The Polls

[Offbeat]

Danica Patrick Says Bad Bunny 'Shouldn't Be Allowed' To Perform At The Super Bowl — And Gets Hit With Fiery Replies

The former race car driver is the latest MAGA supporter to voice displeasure over the NFL's halftime pick.

www.huffpost.com

Corey Lewandowski responds to Bad Bunny Super Bowl news with threat of ICE enforcement

The homeland security adviser’s comments came in response to the musician’s concerns about the potential for immigration raids at his U.S. concerts.

www.msnbc.com

May be they will cancel the his half-time show.

 

[MamboJazz]

Imagine this: in czech republic the "car-driver party" won 7% at the national election last weekend, called "Motorists for themselves". They are primarily focused on the issues of car ownership and want to abolish bicycle lanes. Now they hope for getting foreign ministry in coalition talks. In 10 days I'll be in Prague driving my bike, I hope they haven't abolished the bike lanes yet.

As coalition talks continue, populist 'Motorists' eye Czech foreign ministry | Euractiv

The foreign minstry is a key portfolio that coalition partners are angling for. But Babiš has made clear that EU policy will remain under his direct control

www.euractiv.com

 

[Offbeat]

Imagine this: in czech republic the "car-driver party" won 7% at the national election last weekend, called "Motorists for themselves". They are primarily focused on the issues of car ownership and want to abolish bicycle lanes. Now they hope for getting foreign ministry in coalition talks. In 10 days I'll be in Prague driving my bike, I hope they haven't abolished the bike lanes yet.

As coalition talks continue, populist 'Motorists' eye Czech foreign ministry | Euractiv

The foreign minstry is a key portfolio that coalition partners are angling for. But Babiš has made clear that EU policy will remain under his direct control

www.euractiv.com

Our metro area policies try to be pro bike. Especially San Francisco. However riding bikes is dangerous despite more bike lanes being introduced in place that was fundamentally built for cars. From high speed surface streets to parking spaces.

When bike lanes are introduced the parking spaces go away or one of the driving lane is taken up. So same amount of cars but less road. There is abysmal public transport. That’s why Uber took off in the San Francisco. For first five years or almost till Covid, you could get on demand ride for the same cost as public bus. Reach destination a lot faster in cleaner vehicle. Door to door. Now driverless ride on demand are seen everywhere in San Francisco city.

The city tries to introduce bike friendly and is very anti-car. If you live in the city you don’t need a car. People take Uber or Lyft mostly. The people from suburbs have to drive in. Making less space for cars makes it more dangerous for bike riders. There are people who bike but a very small minority. It is highly vocal minority. Not enough to justify time, money and effort spent by the city to make it more bike friendly.

People who don’t want to drive are forced to because of the infrastructure. Look up San Francisco to Los Angeles high speed rail project. Most people would love to travel if it existed. It has been going on for more than 10 to 15 years, with not much to show for and the costs have ballooned by 10x further delaying the already snail’s space.

 

[bailar y tocar]

Our metro area policies try to be pro bike. Especially San Francisco. However riding bikes is dangerous despite more bike lanes being introduced in place that was fundamentally built for cars. From high speed surface streets to parking spaces.

When bike lanes are introduced the parking spaces go away or one of the driving lane is taken up. So same amount of cars but less road. There is abysmal public transport. That’s why Uber took off in the San Francisco. For first five years or almost till Covid, you could get on demand ride for the same cost as public bus. Reach destination a lot faster in cleaner vehicle. Door to door. Now driverless ride on demand are seen everywhere in San Francisco city.

The city tries to introduce bike friendly and is very anti-car. If you live in the city you don’t need a car. People take Uber or Lyft mostly. The people from suburbs have to drive in. Making less space for cars makes it more dangerous for bike riders. There are people who bike but a very small minority. It is highly vocal minority. Not enough to justify time, money and effort spent by the city to make it more bike friendly.

People who don’t want to drive are forced to because of the infrastructure. Look up San Francisco to Los Angeles high speed rail project. Most people would love to travel if it existed. It has been going on for more than 10 to 15 years, with not much to show for and the costs have ballooned by 10x further delaying the already snail’s space.

I know this sounds weird to SF locals but public transit there is actually way better than in most of the US. Only NYC and maybe Boston can claim better transit than SF. But for all its only true in the core city area. Once one ventures into the suburbs its bad everywhere.

Otoh, when I visit Germany, Austria, Switzerland and a few other European countries I really enjoy using public transit everywhere and for everything. It works quite well most of the time even when trying to reach rural areas (as long as its not on the weekend).

 

[Offbeat]

I know this sounds weird to SF locals but public transit there is actually way better than in most of the US. Only NYC and maybe Boston can claim better transit than SF. But for all its only true in the core city area. Once one ventures into the suburbs its bad everywhere.

Whenever I have tried public transport it takes 3x time.

But then in Paris or Berlin it takes 20 to 30 minutes door to door for 5km to 10Km distance. Here in car it takes about 10 to 15 minutes for 10Kms.

Otoh, when I visit Germany, Austria, Switzerland and a few other European countries I really enjoy using public transit everywhere and for everything. It works quite well most of the time even when trying to reach rural areas (as long as its not on the weekend).

Haven’t tried traveling to rural area. The cities every where in Europe are built for public transport.

 

[salsim]

Former NASA astronaut Ron Garan recounts how he adopted a new perspective on global solidarity while serving on the International Space Station. Creating a better world, says Garan, requires a higher level of cooperation and innovation from all members of the human race. Garan's new book is titled The Orbital Perspective.

Ron Garan: When it was time to depart the space station and return home, my Russian crewmates and I climbed in into our Soyuz spacecraft, the same one we launched from five and a half months earlier. We fired our engines just a little bit at precisely the right moment to have us enter the upper atmosphere. And as we entered the upper atmosphere we started to develop drag, you know. We had this fiery violent ride through the atmosphere. It was really amazing. Once you got down to a lower altitude the speed really becomes amazing. And I remember seeing, oh, there goes Africa as we whizzed by the continent. And the parachutes opened. They threw us all over the place. Shortly thereafter we smashed into the ground. We bounced. We flipped. We rolled over. And when we rolled over we rolled on the right side. And now my window was pointing at the ground and I remember looking out of the window and seeing a rock, a flower, and a blade of grass. And I remember thinking to myself distinctly that I’m home. And what was really amazing about that thought was that I was in Kazakhstan. And so for me, at that moment, my home was no longer Houston, Texas, where I live with my family or Yonkers, New York, where I was born and grew up. My home was Earth and that was really a perspective-shifting moment for me

1. Anyone Can Achieve an Orbital Perspective
2. There Are No Politics on the International Space Station

 

[salsim]

In the 20th century, humanity began exploration of the Red Planet with robotic probes. Although they were often viewed as only precursors to human missions, the cost and complexity of the expedition to Mars left automatic orbiters and landers as the primary alternatives for exploring the red planet as late as the early decades of the 21st century....today, multiple nations are attempting unmanned missions to Mars, lets just hope that they dont start sending armed rovers....take care all

 

[Offbeat]

I couldn’t find western channels carrying this interview or news. A few Indian ones did. Hard to parse what she actually said without direct access to her interview. Words can get twisted.

I know Merkel gets blamed a lot. But I think she had a right vision for Europe. From taking in refugees to trade with Russia. I do think Europe got lot more refugees than it bargained for. It should have put sensible restrictions and vetting process. There were enough economic migrants from non-war torn countries. Also there should have been policy in place to return once war had died down. Like in Syria.

I don’t know what Baltics and a Poland were doing before the Ukrainian war. But once it started they have been loudest voices of looming war from Russia. Most indications are Russia is not interested. Why not quietly build up your defenses instead of needling Russia publicly hiding behind USA.

Many reputable western scholars have written and expressed before as well as after how the west led by USA was ignoring some of the valid Russian concerns.

I do vividly remember Biden (very stupidly and rigidly) refusing to negotiate and escalate the situation in Nov of 2021.

I also think Zelensky may be a good war leader but he should have stopped in April 2022 when both sides were very close to a ceasefire agreement.

The problem is geography. You can never fight geography when you live in shadow of a large nation. Principles are fine, but not large nation really adheres to principles. You only have to look at USA history when it comes to attacking sovereign nations.

 

[MamboJazz]

In the 20th century, humanity began exploration of the Red Planet with robotic probes. Although they were often viewed as only precursors to human missions, the cost and complexity of the expedition to Mars left automatic orbiters and landers as the primary alternatives for exploring the red planet as late as the early decades of the 21st century....today, multiple nations are attempting unmanned missions to Mars, lets just hope that they dont start sending armed rovers....take care all

The automatic rovers are the most useful way of exploring mars and I would recommend continueing that instead of sending humans there. But personally I would find it fascinating to send humans one day: costs are way too high, but it would be so mindblowing to watch. Thing is in the 1970s they already said "In 20 years we go to mars", they always continued to say that and they still say that. It's easy to say "In 20 years we go" because nobody is responsible for fulfilling that - in 20 years the leaders are all retired. Thing is also I'm getting older and starting to feel that I may not even live anymore if they finally do it. That would be sad so I hope irrationalism takes over again and they start the race for first putting flag on mars.

 

[MamboJazz]

I couldn’t find western channels carrying this interview or news. A few Indian ones did. Hard to parse what she actually said without direct access to her interview. Words can get twisted.

I googled that: she gave an interview in Hungary promoting her biography, she speaking german. Her words were very diplomatic as always and I don't see a reason to get upset. But the slightest hint that someone from the west could have done a bit better makes people go wild.

More interesting is her thoughts about covid pandemic playing part of the ukraine invasion. I read this thought already before somewhere. Putin didn't meet western politicians for two years as he feared covid (except one weird meeting with german chancellor Scholz, separated by ten meters distance). When you don't meet people anymore you start becoming weird. Out of this isolation he gave order for the invasion.

 

[salsim]

The automatic rovers are the most useful way of exploring mars and I would recommend continueing that instead of sending humans there. But personally I would find it fascinating to send humans one day: costs are way too high, but it would be so mindblowing to watch. Thing is in the 1970s they already said "In 20 years we go to mars", they always continued to say that and they still say that. It's easy to say "In 20 years we go" because nobody is responsible for fulfilling that - in 20 years the leaders are all retired. Thing is also I'm getting older and starting to feel that I may not even live anymore if they finally do it. That would be sad so I hope irrationalism takes over again and they start the race for first putting flag on mars.

i completely agree, the unmanned vehicles are the most safer way of exploring mars, if i'm not mistaken, the Soviets landed the unmanned Luna 2 on the moon in 1959, and Mars 6 on Mars in 1973, however, NASA's Apollo 11 landed humans on the moon....sending humans to Mars could be closer than in 20 years, NASA is planning to send humans to the moon again as a platform to send humans to Mars, Artemis 3 could be taking humans to the moon in 2027, and this time the ambitions are greater than the classic shows of astronauts playing golf on the moon, NASA plans to build a lunar base that will be a bridge for Mars human exploration, Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin could take part in sending human to Mars....before all this could take place, there are dangers to humans that needs to be overcome as mars sand tornados, solar flares, radiation, etc....there have been many advances for sending humans to mars, as on the food, dwelling, etc, also researchers have proposed methods to produce water and rocket fuel on mars, also on the moon, in 20 years we go to mars....take care

 

[Offbeat]

The automatic rovers are the most useful way of exploring mars and I would recommend continueing that instead of sending humans there. But personally I would find it fascinating to send humans one day: costs are way too high, but it would be so mindblowing to watch. Thing is in the 1970s they already said "In 20 years we go to mars", they always continued to say that and they still say that. It's easy to say "In 20 years we go" because nobody is responsible for fulfilling that - in 20 years the leaders are all retired. Thing is also I'm getting older and starting to feel that I may not even live anymore if they finally do it. That would be sad so I hope irrationalism takes over again and they start the race for first putting flag on mars.

It is challenging. China might try to do it. Why incur cost of sending a human mission to Mars unless they are going to stay there for a length of time. We actually do know a lot of Martian atmosphere. The plant is not as inhabitable as earth. So you will have to build ahead systems on their for human survival before sending people. Multiple mars mission will be required to build such system/structure and then test it. It is far more difficult than building international space station. How do you bring back people from Mars. I think it is Musk who think that sending people to Mars will be a one way mission. Time to reach there and get back.

Orbital alignment happens once every 26 months I think for shortest duration trip to Mars. Unless we discover or invent new propulsion systems (nuclear powered?)

From pure cost perspective, if rovers and unmanned systems can explore Mars, what is cost/benefit of sending a manned mission other than vanity.

 

[Offbeat]

I googled that: she gave an interview in Hungary promoting her biography, she speaking german. Her words were very diplomatic as always and I don't see a reason to get upset. But the slightest hint that someone from the west could have done a bit better makes people go wild.

That’s very true. Not everyone in the west. Orban for all his shortcomings is one leader holding the line against the rest of European Union when it comes to EU’s Russia policy. Slovakia is another.

All of this year the rhetoric I keep hearing from Europe is all war mongering. Meloni too appears anti-Russian. No one else is talking about figuring out how to live with Russia and its security concern. The Americans would have done exactly the same if China or Russia had signed a defence pact with Mexico. The USA is already shooting and bombing Venezuelan ships without any proof.

Rhetoric from Eastern Europe is worse. Agreed the memories of eastern block during Soviet times are bad. Question is, is it necessary to poke the bear. EU wants Ukraine to fight to the last Ukrainian. That’s a tragedy. Formula to stop Ukrainian suffering should have been sought long back. Sought of full fledged war with long range missiles hitting Moscow and St. Petersburg, which can then provoke use of tactical nuclear weapons, there is no hope for Ukraine to push back Russians.

More interesting is her thoughts about covid pandemic playing part of the ukraine invasion. I read this thought already before somewhere. Putin didn't meet western politicians for two years as he feared covid (except one weird meeting with german chancellor Scholz, separated by ten meters distance).

Wasn’t there also a meeting with Macron. I am pretty sure Macron met him twice before Feb 2020.

When you don't meet people anymore you start becoming weird. Out of this isolation he gave order for the invasion.

I doubt it. There was also a lot of arrogance on part of Biden. While Germany and France were trying, Biden wasn’t willing for pre-war solution. All Moscow proposals were rebuffed as non-starters in DC. This is despite USA intelligence by Dec’2021 convinced that Putin did plan to attack Ukraine. By Jan, the USA was very sure it would happen that I decided not to go to Mambolove in Moscow in Feb. Big unknowns were what if there would be a way to withdraw money from ATM, how much money to carry or convert in roubles, whether flights would operate and not getting stranded in Moscow if the war broke out. A couple of my friends from here still went. The war started when they were mid-air on their way to Moscow.

 

[MamboJazz]

This is despite USA intelligence by Dec’2021 convinced that Putin did plan to attack Ukraine. By Jan, the USA was very sure it would happen that I decided not to go to Mambolove in Moscow in Feb. Big unknowns were what if there would be a way to withdraw money from ATM, how much money to carry or convert in roubles, whether flights would operate and not getting stranded in Moscow if the war broke out. A couple of my friends from here still went. The war started when they were mid-air on their way to Moscow.

I didn't know that story of westerners flying to Mambolove at the moment the invasion started. I still wasn't interested in festivals back then. I googled that: yes, the day the invasion started was a thursday and preparty scheduled. Sure faces on that festival were different than usual.

 

[bailar y tocar]

I found a lot of places where this speaker presents two views and then claims the argument that lets Russia look more favorable as the better outcome. 100% of the time.

Its propaganda. Dismissed.

The real problem Angela Merkel caused is to tie the fate of the German economy to cheaper Russian natural gas. Everyone in Europe and other allies warned them not to go there. Not to become 70% dependent on THEIR natural gas. That was unsustainable. Any dependency of that magnitude makes any country subject to blackmail. She knew that but went along with it anyway.

A secondary complaint about Angela Merkel is that she never went against the "public opinion" or the "needs and wants" of the influential class. The problem the succeeding "Ampelkoalition" had is that they did just that which is why the coalition fell apart.

Appeasement is not leadership.

 

[bailar y tocar]

The automatic rovers are the most useful way of exploring mars and I would recommend continueing that instead of sending humans there. But personally I would find it fascinating to send humans one day: costs are way too high, but it would be so mindblowing to watch. Thing is in the 1970s they already said "In 20 years we go to mars", they always continued to say that and they still say that. It's easy to say "In 20 years we go" because nobody is responsible for fulfilling that - in 20 years the leaders are all retired. Thing is also I'm getting older and starting to feel that I may not even live anymore if they finally do it. That would be sad so I hope irrationalism takes over again and they start the race for first putting flag on mars.

Mars is a dead planet. Totally overrated. Its gravitational force driven by the rotation of its inner core is so weak that Mars cannot sustain an atmosphere anymore. Any gases on Mars escape into space just like on our own moon.

It would be way more exciting to explore some of Jupiter's moons. They are truly fascinating. The icy moons like Europa could offer way more info on what is happening elsewhere in the universe. Obviously they would have to be explored by rovers.

 

[Offbeat]

I found a lot of places where this speaker presents two views and then claims the argument that lets Russia look more favorable as the better outcome. 100% of the time.

That’s why I was looking for different sources. A few of the regular Indian YouTube channel carried it but only as reporting with a Russia tilt. It is getting very hard to trust channels without knowing how much discount to apply to their pre-conceived bias. There are those than lean towards one or the other side. And then there are those who are outright propaganda type. With AI it becomes harder to decipher if the attribution is true. But I can usually figure it out with AI voice with still pic is used to generate commentary.

There is no way to search YouTube by anything except keywords. And such clips it shows in the result can depend on god knows what. You can search by show me clips on this topic from pro and anti xyz bias. Or from xyz country/region.

I want to hear both pro and anti sides.

Its propaganda. Dismissed.

The real problem Angela Merkel caused is to tie the fate of the German economy to cheaper Russian natural gas.

Yes. I think it was smart at the time. It helped German economy. Also kept Russia engaged. I recall when she first came to power people used to say as a former East German she understood Russian psyche better.

Had Putin not returned to be president and precipitated the Ukrainian crisis that could have looked smart.

No one blames American presidents for letting China into WTO, enabling China technologically turning blind eye to brazen theft of IP by China during 2000s, companies willingly providing know-how etc. As smart as Chinese are, it would have taken them 10-15 years longer to catch up had Americans and the west not been sleepy at the wheel.

Look how a Chinese automobile industry is running circles around the German and European one. Plus USA squeezing them from the other side with tariffs.

Everyone in Europe and other allies warned them not to go there. Not to become 70% dependent on THEIR natural gas. That was unsustainable. Any dependency of that magnitude makes any country subject to blackmail. She knew that but went along with it anyway.

What percentage dependency was fine? 30% …20%….50%?. Once German broke off and started buying from else where post-2022, it managed didn’t it? Germany didn’t had much of an issue during the winter of 2022 and 2023 given how much dependent they were before on the Russian natural gas.

Isn’t Trump using the same logic that xyz country is dependent on the USA for trade and reducing exports to the USA will hurt their economy so I will put tariffs. Unlike in first Trump, Europe didn’t fight back in tariffs because of security concerns this time. Probably the same with S.Korea and Japan. All three signed one sided deals.

Problem is dependency is a fact of life. China can choke off rare earth export to USA for example. It will have a big impact. USA didn’t develop its own rare earth resources.

A secondary complaint about Angela Merkel is that she never went against the "public opinion" or the "needs and wants" of the influential class. The problem the succeeding "Ampelkoalition" had is that they did just that which is why the coalition fell apart.

Appeasement is not leadership.

Not familiar with German politics. “Public opinion” is what majority in the country favored? That’s generally good. Especially in democracies. Btw in which areas should have she gone against public opinion?

When leaders try to go against public opinion for the larger good or stability (esp financial) there is hue and cry. Successive French presidents have faced it with pension reforms, Modi in India had to back down from agriculture price reforms that economists had backed for decades and actually helped farmers. One of rare times he backed down. Similarly when he introduced GST (similar to VAT in Europe) there was a lot of push back. GST has been proposed by all economists for over two or three decades as good for economy, reducing friction in trade and commerce, and increasing revenues for people. He didn’t back down on that and pushed through its implementation though first few years were rough with buggy rollout.

Influential class is everywhere. Every leader gets accused of paying attention to their needs and wants. USA is an shining example

Anyways overall, how does Merkel get rated historically? I think she gets rated pretty high. Except after Russian invaded Ukraine, I have watched the tone against her changed and amplified.

 

[bailar y tocar]

Anyways overall, how does Merkel get rated historically? I think she gets rated pretty high. Except after Russian invaded Ukraine, I have watched the tone against her changed and amplified.

How does Merkel rate overall? I guess it depends on the frame of reference. As a politician who managed to keep a govt together that was not all that unified for so many years: very high! She will go down in history as clearly one of the most capable politicians keeping a govt together. And that is quite a compliment because govts in Germany have tended to be fairly stable anyways.

Domestic issues:
1. Assisting and leading needed reforms of the healthcare system = near disaster.
2. Assisting and leading the reform of the German pension system = completely absent - did nothing.
3. Managing infrastructure improvements = total disaster - her govts disinvested in infrastructure and now it is falling apart.
4. Communicating the need for immigration to support the financing of 1,2,3 above = totally absent - enabled the rise of the right wing AgD (official name is AfD but critics use the g = against rather than the f = for).

Foreign policy and EU integration/disintegration:
Faced many tough situations. It is hard to say someone else could have done better. Hindsight is 20/20.

That said, if the frame of reference were other politicians in other countries, she would fare rather well. That is a weird comparison but many people do it anyway.

 

[bailar y tocar]

Problem is dependency is a fact of life. China can choke off rare earth export to USA for example. It will have a big impact. USA didn’t develop its own rare earth resources.

But Japan did develop their own resources.
China cut off shipments many years ago for the first time. Japan invested billions in Australian mines and Malaysian processing facilities. Then China restarted the shipments and lowered the price to make new mines and processing facilities in the US an unprofitable proposal. It worked. US abandoned efforts to become strategically independent, just like Germany did with Russian gas. The German economy is still struggling with the high cost of energy due to the sudden shock of switching to new sources all at once.
The US economy has not yet felt the shock of the rare earth shortages. It takes time for the supply chain to feel the full impact.

The Chinese leadership definitely have the "sharpest tools in the shed". Anyone who underestimates China will be very sorry.

 

[Offbeat]

How Trump Pushed Israel and Hamas to Yes

The president’s unconventional efforts have paid off in the Middle East, at least for now.

www.theatlantic.com

Most detailed report I have read on how the deal was reached.