SpaceX claims that it has redesigned the satellites to ensure that they’ll burn up in the atmosphere.
Hopefully at end of life, and not on the way up. Seriously, if true, this is good housekeeping.
How Americans Used To Eat
Hint: It wasn’t plants:
Early Americans settlers were “indifferent” farmers, according to many accounts. They were fairly lazy in their efforts at both animal husbandry and agriculture, with “the grain fields, the meadows, the forests, the cattle, etc, treated with equal carelessness,” as one 18th-century Swedish visitor described—and there was little point in farming since meat was so readily available.
Settlers recorded the extraordinary abundance of wild turkeys, ducks, grouse, pheasant, and more. Migrating flocks of birds would darken the skies for days. The tasty Eskimo curlew was apparently so fat that it would burst upon falling to the earth, covering the ground with a sort of fatty meat paste. (New Englanders called this now-extinct species the “doughbird.”)
In the woods, there were bears (prized for their fat), raccoons, bobolinks, opossums, hares, and virtual thickets of deer—so much that the colonists didn’t even bother hunting elk, moose, or bison, since hauling and conserving so much meat was considered too great an effort. A European traveler describing his visit to a Southern plantation noted that the food included beef, veal, mutton, venison, turkeys, and geese, but he does not mention a single vegetable.
Infants were fed beef even before their teeth had grown in. The English novelist Anthony Trollope reported, during a trip to the United States in 1861, that Americans ate twice as much beef as did Englishmen. Charles Dickens, when he visited, wrote that “no breakfast was breakfast” without a T-bone steak. Apparently, starting a day on puffed wheat and low-fat milk—our “Breakfast of Champions!”—would not have been considered adequate even for a servant.
Indeed, for the first 250 years of American history, even the poor in the United States could afford meat or fish for every meal. The fact that the workers had so much access to meat was precisely why observers regarded the diet of the New World to be superior to that of the Old.
Lobster used to be fed to prisoners, because it was considered inferior to other meats. The notion that we ate plants is all part of the junk science of nutrition.
Michael Avenatti
In the past 24 hours, Trump has been cleared of the collusion charges, and Democrat hero Avenatti has been arrested for wire fraud. Gotta think this puts a damper on his presidential ambitions, even for a Democrat.
[Late-afternoon update]
Scumbag attorney (going at least back to Susan McDougal) Mark Geragos is allegedly a co-conspirator. It’s like a critical mass of scumbaggery.
Writing Sex For Money
…is hard fcking work.
I can imagine.
The Mueller Report
[Update a few minutes later]
[Monday-morning update, after the Barr letter was released on Sunday]
Glenn Reynolds has some links.
My brief thoughts: Both in refusing to properly administer the law in the case of the Clinton server to keep her campaign viable, and in concocting a false case against first a presidential candidate of the opposing party, and then the president, weaponizing all the legal and intelligence tools against him, this was the greatest abuse of federal power in American history. Those responsible, at the highest levels of government, even into the Obama White House, must be held to account, or the people will no longer be able to trust the most powerful institutions of the Republic. The continuous lies from the Democrats and the media about “Russian collusion” no doubt contributed to the loss of the House to the Democrats last year, if not caused it in and of themselves. Not only must those responsible for the abuse of power be held to legal account, but it would be just and fitting for this to result in a great victory against the Democrats in both the presidential and congressional races next year. It’s unfortunate that the Republicans would be the beneficiary of that, but sadly, we have no good choices in political parties, and haven’t in my lifetime.
[Bumped]
[Update a few minutes later]
Speaking of Glenn, his latest USA Today column: Collusion by the media, but don’t expect any apologies. And more at The Morning Brief.
[Update a while later]
This wasn’t just the biggest abuse of federal power in American history, but the biggest media failure in American history.
[Update at noon]
The real threat to the Republic: The Democrat Party. It always has been.
[Afternoon update]
No collusion, but the #Resistance is still yelling about it.
And Russiagate is WMD times a million.
The media should engage in a struggle session, but they won’t.
I’ll remember where I was when first I heard that the report had been released on Friday (Anza Borrego State Park, looking at a superbloom of wildflowers).
If you look carefully at the bottom shot, you’ll see a mountain sheep ram standing on top of the ridge (this was with my phone, kicking myself that we hadn’t taken a camera with a zoom lens).
I’ll also remember where I was when we heard the Barr letter being read on the radio yesterday: Looking at more wildflowers, including poppies, on a hillside north of Lake Elsinore (the crowds were apparently horrific down there in Walker Canyon, but this road was relatively empty).
The orange splash on the distant hillside in the top picture is the same kind of golden poppies (the California state flower) as the ones in the bottom picture, by the side of the road.
[Late afternoon update]
Bob Zimmerman isn’t impressed with Mueller, but sees signs of hope.
The Apocalypse Primary
Yes, it’s economic lunacy to think that the U.S., let alone California, can prevent whatever climate change is induced by CO2 emissions.
Jewish Voters
…are furious at Democrats’ defense of Omar.
Meh. Let’s see what they actually do about it.
[Tuesday-afternoon update]
“Like Esther and Mordecai, Jews must not tolerate those who wish to destroy us.”:
I am not suggesting that every Jew should now vote Republican, although that is one of the choices. And this suggestion has nothing to do with and no bearing on supporting or not supporting President Trump. This is about the health of the Democratic Party.
I am suggesting that we should emulate the courage of Mordecai and Esther. Every Jewish Democrat must take a clear stand and withhold all support until the party returns to its traditional values regarding Israel and anti-Semitism. The Democrats are convinced that no matter how they abuse us, we will not turn away. But we must step away, both with votes and finances, until the party puts a stop to the outrageous behavior on the part of this trio. The Democrats need to realize that by accepting this anti-Semitism, they will lose all of their Jewish support.By embracing this concept of “Jexodus,” Jews can make a clear statement to Democratic leaders, and force them to re-evaluate their values and their obligations. The danger is clear: unless we stop these hate-filled anti-Semites from controlling the Democratic Party, we are all in a very real and present danger.
The money is more important than the votes.
[Bumped]
[Sunday-morning update]
When they come for the Jews, they won’t ask questions:
American Jewry is at a crossroads. The vast majority of American Jews will continue to cling to their familiar ancestral belief system; it’s all they know. To change now would be to deny everything their family members and they, themselves, have lived for. But before they bury their heads in the sand once again, they should at least hear these simple truths. When our enemies came for us during the Holocaust, they did not ask if we were Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, or secular Jews. Neither were they interested in any past service we rendered for the state. We were Jews. That was all that mattered. If history repeats itself, when our enemies come for us once again, they will not ask if we are Israelis or Zionists. They will not care if we marched in Selma, Alabama; protested against apartheid in South Africa; supported equal rights for women; advocated for the LBGTQ community; and campaigned for Hillary or Bernie. It will matter that we are Jews.
Today’s anti-Semitism, unleashed by the Left and Islamists, is so visceral, virulent, vile, vicious, and vitriolic that it can no longer be justified under the guise of anti-Zionism. In form, content, and message, it is exactly what was seen and heard during the heyday of the Third Reich. It is what made the Holocaust possible. What begins with a parade float in Belgium inevitably ends in the gas chambers of Auschwitz and Treblinka. This is the fate our enemies want for us. This is why Tehran’s Ayatollah Khamenei rejoices that more Jews are moving to Israel — for one grand target.
[Bumped again]
The Gas-Station Clerk
An interesting disquisition on the ethics of saving others.
More Boeing Delays
Looking a lot like SpaceX is going to get the flag at the ISS this year. And between this, the 737 Max, and SLS, Boeing is having a really bad year.
Hitting The Road
Today is Patricia’s birthday, and we’re celebrating by going to the mountains and desert of San Diego County for a few days, to see the super bloom of desert wildflowers, which are peaking about now. I’ll take a computer, but not sure how much posting I’ll be doing.