Everyone has to do something

Found by the Queen Of The World, who knows dogs.  And shoes.

The miracle of Cathedral architecture

We don't often think of Cathedrals like Paris' Notre Dame as being high tech, but the architecture that exploded on the scene around 1100 AD was a game changer - one that wasn't really eclipsed until the steel and concrete skyscraper 800 years later.  This scene from the great series The Ascent Of Man sums this up in a very digestible manner.*



Quite frankly, the strength of the design is possibly the reason that Notre Dame still stands, damaged but unconquered.

* The 1970s was perhaps the golden age of educational television, with this series and Kenneth Clark's Civilization as perhaps the pinnacle of TV where you could expect to actually learn something more than how to rap.  The music here is awful - the 1970s intellectual soundtrack par excellence - but the scene still presents the story efficiently and entertainingly.

In re: Notre Dame

Everyone has seen the views of the Cathedral from outside - it is a wonder of the world, after all.  But it was not built to be a magnificent resting place for the eye.  It was built as a church, by people who used it for worship.

Like this:



I find this much more poignant than the sweeping vistas of the Cathedral in its glory, or the terrible fire devouring the spire.  This is why it was built.

French authorities say this fire was an accident.  We need to take them at their word until more information is available.  But keep in mind the news that has been swept down the memory hole.  Notre Dame was targeted by ISIS two years ago.  And last year saw two French churches desecrated each day, every day for the entire year.

But time will tell how it happened.  For now, we know what happened, which was a tragedy.

Oh no! There's a man chick with a gun!

The Queen Of The World and I visited ASM826 and Mrs. ASM826 over the weekend.  Not only are they terrific hosts, but ASM826 is an excellent shooting instructor.  He helped TQOTW get lead on steel target in a jiffy.

While she's not a new shooter, she hasn't been a frequent shooter and so the "New Shooter Smile" seemed to apply.  The "I Hit The Steel" smile was definitely there, too.  She has a pretty good idea of which guns she'd like Santa to bring.

Later we went to the local Pirate Fest which seemed a lot like a Ren Faire brought to the down town.

Just a random group of revelers.  Later we threw hatchets which was a lot more fun than I had anticipated.  TQOTW joked that we brought her on a "guy's weekend".

Man, it was a lot of fun.

What Assange was indicted for

Robert Graham explains.

I'm not so sure that passwords had to be longer than 10 characters back in 2010, but really don't know.  Good explanation of the technical details.

Regarding Julian Assange

I posted this at the end of 2013, calling the picture the "picture of the year".  I reproduce the entire post here on the occasion of l'affair Assange.

Offered without comment on l'affair Snowden, as it needs none.

Other than pointing out that Snowden is on the run, and General Clapper (who perjured himself before Congress) is still invited to the Right Sort of parties.

#burnittotheground

Via some dudes in Germany, who understand what the Stasi was.

The CDC gets blowback on draconian anti-opiod guidelines

In 2016, the CDC published new guidance for doctors on pain medication.  This has resulted in increased difficulty in getting medication by people suffering from chronic pain, and in some cases had led to "cold turkey" withdrawal of the medications - a cruel and quite frankly medically dangerous practice.

Last month saw a letter to the CDC, a letter that documented hundreds of patients suffering the adverse consequences of the CDC's guidance.  The letter was signed by hundreds of doctors and nurses.  And suddenly the CDC is stumbling all over itself to "clarify" their 2016 guidance:

Acknowledging the suffering caused by "misinterpretation" of the opioid prescribing guidelines it published in 2016, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday sought to clarify that it never recommended imposing involuntary dose reductions on chronic pain patients. In a letter to physicians who had objected to that widespread practice, CDC Director Robert Redfield emphasized that his agency "does not endorse mandated or abrupt dose reduction or discontinuation, as these actions can result in patient harm." Redfield described several steps the CDC is taking to research the impact of its guidelines and correct misunderstandings that have led to abrupt withdrawal, undertreated pain, denial of care, and in some cases suicide.

"I have seen many patients harmed by widespread misapplication of the Guideline," said Stefan Kertesz, a University of Alabama at Birmingham pain and addiction specialist who helped organize a March 6 letter on the subject that was signed by hundreds of health professionals. Kertesz welcomed the CDC's response, which came the same day that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning about the risks of involuntary or fast opioid tapering.

It seems that a bunch of folks are giving the CDC attaboys for this.  My take is different.

The people at the CDC (and also it seems at the FDA) who wrote this guidance should be horsewhipped in the public square, and then denied pain medication.  The Reason post linked above contains story after story from people forced to live in agony.  Here's a sample quote from a patient:

"You don't know me, you don't walk in my shoes, you don't have my nerve damage, and you don't have to live with the thought of will today be the day that I kill myself because I can't take the pain anymore"

And the CDC's answer?  "Oops, my bad":

Redfield said the CDC is communicating with providers and health systems to "clarify the content" of its advice, to "emphasize the importance of developing policies consistent with the Guideline's intent," and to "highlight recommendations within the Guideline, including tapering guidance, options for non-opioid treatments for chronic pain, and communicating with patients."

Let's break that down, shall we?  Here's the translation from bureauticrese to English:

the CDC is communicating with providers and health systems to "clarify the content" of its advice 

Our guidance was crappy and too vague, almost certainly because we were covering our ass with politicians breathing down our necks on this "War On Drugs" nonsense and we were a bunch of pussies that caved to the pressure. 

to "emphasize the importance of developing policies consistent with the Guideline's intent" 

It may be vague but we're still pussies worried about those damn politicians.  But we're sorry we got caught and really really want this to get out of the public eye. 

and to "highlight recommendations within the Guideline, including tapering guidance, options for non-opioid treatments for chronic pain, and communicating with patients." 

Holy cow we're still pussies and are afraid of losing our jobs because the Politicians really really want their War On Drugs. 

The Government is a stumbling, bumbling idiot that crushes everything it touches.  Remember, kids: it's not "Government Healthcare" or even "Socialized Healthcare".  It's "Politicized Healthcare" and we're seeing it right now, before our very eyes.  Just wait until that's the only thing left to us and the Politicians really start yanking the levers.

Jerks.

Florida about to issue the 2 millionth concealed carry permit

It seems that folks are high fiving the benchmark, although the media is appalled.

The last of the Doolittle Raiders passes on

Lt. Col. Dick Cole - Jimmy Doolittle's co-pilot and the last of the Doolittle Raiders has passed on at age 103.  Dwight has a good tribute.

A couple years back when The Queen Of The World and I were in Ohio seeing her Dad, we took a couple hours to visit the Air Force Museum in Dayton.  They had the bottle of Cognac which had been presented to the raiders by the city of Tuscon on display there.  It was for a toast by the group but it had never been opened.  It felt eerie, knowing that the final toast was finally nigh.  All of the silver goblets are now turned face down.

.

Ave atque vale - hail and farewell.

K9s for Warriors

Michael emails to point me to this very interesting article about a group that is fighting the war against PTSD with rescue dogs:

K9s For Warriors is a BBB accredited charity organization located in Ponte Vedra, Florida, that has been pairing rescue dogs with traumatized soldiers since 2011. The dogs are trained to be service dogs, specifically performing tasks to quiet the symptoms of war trauma disabilities in soldiers. 

“The skillsets our dogs learn help these warriors with anxiety, isolation, depression, and nightmares,” says Shari Duval, the founder of K9s For Warriors. “So, the warriors can function again in public.”

Specifically, the dogs are trained to deal with symptoms of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), or military sexual trauma (MST), as a result of military service on or after 9/11.

This is a long article that goes into some depth on the problems of PTSD.  The Queen Of The World tells a story about someone she knew who came back from Vietnam and couldn't sit with his back to a door.  The use of the service dog to address this problem is creative:

Many soldiers with PTSD do not like people coming up from behind them. In the field, soldiers say to one another,“I got your back” or “I got your 6.” The cover command does just that. The service dog literally becomes the warrior’s sixth sense, by sitting and facing the opposite way the warrior is facing. When someone approaches from behind, the dog wags its tail.

I quite like the fact that there are scientific studies under way that are validating the effectiveness of dogs as a non-pharmaceutical treatment:

K9s For Warriors recently partnered with Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine on a pilot study testing the effectiveness of service dogs as a complementary treatment for military members and veterans who suffer from PTSD. Dr. Maggie O'Haire, assistant professor of human-animal interaction, along with Kerri E. Rodriguez, research assistant, conducted the study and published the findings earlier this year.

The study had a total of 141 participants from the K9s For Warriors’ program or individuals on the program’s waiting list. Half of the program's participants had service dogs; the other half did not.

The study found that PTSD symptoms were significantly lower in veterans with service dogs, demonstrating that service dogs are associated with lower PTSD symptoms among war veterans. “The initial findings showed lower depression, lower PTSD symptoms, lower levels of anxiety, and lower absenteeism from work due to health issues,” says Dr. O'Haire.

... 

Dr. O’Haire is partnering again with K9s For Warriors on a more extensive study funded by NIH. The findings will be published in 2019.

The VA is also running a Congressionally-mandated PTSD service dog study that will be completed in 2019. A total of 180 veterans have received either a service dog or an emotional support dog as part of the study. According to a VA spokesperson, after peer reviews, the VA will submit the study and results to the National Academy of Sciences for review, as required by the authorizing legislation (Section 1077 of the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act).

While there is a place for medications, they seem to be a very blunt instrument for PTSD.  So far, this group has placed 850 dogs with 450 veterans.

A life's work

That guy really hated communism.

The only thing dumber than a self-driving car is a self-driving tank

Peter has a post discussing what size gun for small armored vehicles, which has a lot of interesting stuff if that's your bag, Baby.  But he has a very interesting question:

In future warfare, as far as front-line combat is concerned, does infantry still have a role on the battlefield?  Is combat going to develop into a slugging match between vehicles, and possibly between unmanned systems or artificial-intelligence autonomous weapons systems?

No.

Nobody is going to put much faith into autonomous weapons systems for a long, long time.  The reason is that failure modes are much more complex than for autonomous automobiles, and are susceptible to enemy subversion.  We're actually already seeing some of this for self-driving cars, where security researchers were successful in tricking a Tesla to move into the oncoming traffic lane by putting some stickers on the road surface.  Srlsy.

So far self-driving cars have been learning (mostly successfully) to avoid obstacles on well defined roadways.  Results have been decently impressive although nowhere near good enough for me to trust my life to one of these things.  I've posted about many of the failures here, and this really boils down to a case of underestimating how difficult the problem is combined with a generous dose of Gee-Wizz marketing.  Essentially this is a problem space where rapid progress is made until the solution is 80% complete, at which point the people working the problem realize that they're facing the next 80%.

And remember, this is for driving on well marked roads with lanes painted on the surface and signposts to give a lot of clues about what's coming next.  No imagine a vehicle that has to navigate off-road, avoid obstacles, avoid damaging property owned by friendlies, all while searching for and identifying potential targets.

Remember, the targets will be actively trying to trick the vehicle's sensors and AI algorithms.  As they say, this will be a target rich environment.  I predict that the first time that a Red Team takes on one of these vehicles it will all be over very quickly.  The AI needs to do a lot more than identify obstacles on a well defined roadway, it needs to do off-road navigation while figuring out whether it is being tricked or not.

The situation is very similar to the difference between getting a web site up and running, and getting one running that is hard to hack.  The first case is just getting functionality to work as designed, the second involves ensuring that the functionality cannot be bent by clever stratagem to do something that the designer doesn't want done.

Good luck with that - this is an entirely new field, with entirely new compromise possibilities.  Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is a site where plains indians hunted bison by tricking them and driving them off a cliff.  Bison are about a billion times smarter than even the best AI, and this was a viable hunting strategy nonetheless.  Is it possible to confuse a self-driving tank to drive off a cliff?  I for one wouldn't bet big money that you couldn't.

This is not a self-driving Wikipedia

And so back to Peter's question.  Yes, infantry has a place on the battlefield of tomorrow.  Quite frankly one of their uses might be to override a confused AI that is about to drive over a cliff.  Infantry will be smarter than tanks for a long, long time.

UPDATE 10 APRIL 2019 17:23: Lawrence has a very interesting take on this.  I think he's right.

Anton Eberl - Symphony in E-flat major, Op.33

Image von der Wik

On this day in 1805, Beethoven's great Third Symphony debuted at a concert in Vienna.  It was one of several compositions by several composers, and the definite consensus is that his symphony didn't win first prize.  This one did, and it shows how fleeting fame can be.

Anton Ebert was one of the most renown composers at the turn of the 19th century.  Friends with both Mozart and Beethoven, his music has distinct flavors of both.  Actually, it's quite a trick to bring out hints of both in the very same piece of music, but that's exactly what Ebert did here.  The Vienna crowd loved it, and I quite like it myself.  Ebert caught scarlet fever and died young and so we lost all of the music he might have composed - but at the time he was more famous than Beethoven.  And then he was forgotten for 200 years.

He seems to be making something of a comeback in the last years.  Good.  After all, his music was confused with Mozart's and he was better than Beethoven, at least for a while.

Bill Anderson - Old Army Hat

I complain a lot about the over-produced New Nashville music that isn't much more than rap with a banjo.  As it turns out, real country music is still being produced, although it may be mostly by the old warhorses.  Whisperin' Bill Anderson is one of those.

Anderson is one of the most prolific country artists of all time: 36 of his songs have reached the Top Ten, and his songs have been recorded by many other artists (including Conway Twitty, Roy Clark, George Straight, and Brad Paisley).  He's been in the Grand Ole Opry since 1961.

But he still writes songs like they used to.  This is a new song that sounds old.  In 2013 Anderson ran across a story about an old World War II vet who put all his army gear away when he came back, except for his army hat which he wore in memory of his buddies that never made it back.  He never talked about the war but when he heard they'd built a memorial to it on the National Mall he asked his grandson to take him.  He thought it needed to be a song:

“It’s based on a true story. I met the son of the man that it actually happened to.” tells Whispering Bill Anderson. “In the song we took a few liberties and referred to the old soldier as my Grandfather. But, actually he was the father to a friend of mine and it really happened. He took his Dad up to Washington, to the Memorial and told his Dad not to wear that old Army hat that he wore around all the time. His Dad said ‘I’m going to wear it if I want too.’ So he wore it up there and they were just totally blown away by the response that they got; how many people stopped him on the street; and thanked him and even saluted him and all this kind of thing.”

This is old school country music, still being made in Nashville.



Old Army Hat (Songwriters: Walt Aldridge, Bill Anderson)

He came home to Tennessee a young man at the end of forty-fiveOnly one of seven men in his platoon that made it back aliveHe must have seen some tough timesBut he never talked too much about all of thatPut his pictures and his memories in the cedar chestEverything but his old army hat 

By the time I graduated the winds of change had blown across our landThey were burning flags and draft cardsWhen they bothered to take some kind of standAnd we used to laugh at grandpaLike he was some old relic from the past'Cause he never left the house less he was wearingThat funny looking worn out army hat 

Every eye was on him anytime that he went anywhereThey whispered and they pointedBut you could tell that grandpa didn't careI ain't weaning this for them he said it's a whole lot more than thatFor my buddies who gave everything the least that I can doIs keep on wearing this old army hat 

He called me up one morning said he'd seen it on the news on his tvThey've opened up a monument to World War II in Washington D.CI ain't getting any youngerAnd I wish someone would take me to see thatI couldn't help but think their gonna laugh at you up thereIf you show up in that silly army hat 

Two strangers both saluted as grandpa walked up to the monumentOne said thank you soldier for a job well done the other said amenAnd a young boy said sir my daddy went to war and never made it backWould you take a picture standing here beside meAnd maybe let me wear your army hat 

Every eye was on him and there was not a dry one in the crowdThey whispered and they pointedAnd grandpa stood up extra tall and proudHe said son just keep itWhen the young boy tried his best to give it backYou're a brave little soldier son and every soldier needsHis very own authentic army hat 

For your daddy who gave every thing the least that I can doIs pass on this old worn out army hat

Twitter bans French Government in order to comply with french "Fake News" law

This is delicious:

A social media campaign from the French government has been blocked by Twitter - because of the government's own anti-fake-news law.

Since December, France requires online political campaigns to declare who paid for them, and how much was spent.

But now Twitter has rejected a government voter registration campaign.

The company could not find a solution to obey the letter of the new law, officials said – and opted to avoid the potential problem altogether.

LOL.  The French.Gov is, of course, beaucoup fâché at this whole countretemps - the idea that a vaguely-worded law might actually be used against them!  Why it's nothing short of lèse-majesté.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of Statist Pricks.  This post is tagged "statist pricks" because, well, you know.

Is that a sword in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

The Washington DC cherry trees were originally a gift to the United States from Japan, and the Cherry Blossom Festival has a strong Japan theme.  As The Queen Of The World and I wandered past the pavilions, there was this display of swordsmanship.

I wonder if they could even do this sport in the UK, with their silly knife laws.

A day off

The lack of posting yesterday was because I took a day off from work and the Queen Of The World and I went into Washington DC to see the cherry blossoms.  It had been maybe 30 years since I had last seen them, and she had never been, and so we went.  The weather was perfect.  As you can imagine, it's spectacular.

As you can imagine, it was also packed.  We also stopped by Arlington to see her Dad.  One of the nice things about being in the DC area is that we can see him.

We'll get down next month for the Rolling Thunder ride, which she hasn't been on before but is looking forward to.

Joe Biden and the Democrat Party

This is pretty funny.

And Gillette can die screaming in a fire.

Science: Urbanization has raised temperatures by almost 2°C

From the Department of not-at-all-shocking-but-seldom-reported comes this new paper:

This study aims to estimate the affect of urbanisation on daily maximum and minimum temperatures in the United Kingdom. Urban fractions were calculated for 10 km × 10 km areas surrounding meteorological weather stations. Using robust regression a linear relationship between urban fraction and temperature difference between station measurements and ERA‐Interim reanalysis temperatures was estimated. 

For an urban fraction of 1.0, the daily minimum 2‐m temperature was estimated to increase by 1.90 ± 0.88 K while the daily maximum temperature was not significantly affected by urbanisation. This result was then applied to the whole United Kingdom with a maximum T min urban heat island intensity (UHII) of about 1.7K in London and with many UK cities having T min UHIIs above one degree.

This paper finds through the method of observation minus reanalysis that urbanisation has significantly increased the daily minimum 2‐m temperature in the United Kingdom by up to 1.70 K.

This isn't any surprise to anyone who has remotely been paying attention.  There is a boatload of anecdotal evidence for urban growth increasing temperatures: weather stations that were on grass runways in the 1920s are now in the middle of concrete and tarmac runways, etc.  There's also the mystery of why temperatures are reported to be the hottest ever recorded but the high temperature records are all old (and sometimes very old - like the 1913 date for hottest temperature ever recorded in the USA).

Of course, if the reported warming is mainly due to increased in daily low temperature, then this study on urbanization provides a very neat explanation - all the concrete and asphalt absorbs heat during the day and releases it at night, raising the recorded low temperature.

But hey, don't let actual science get in the way of a multi-trillion dollar power grab by the global New World Order.

Why is Britain headed for a hard BREXIT?

We can't tell for sure, of course - as Yogi Berra said prediction is hard, especially about the future.  But it looks like it will be hard BREXIT, and possibly because that's what the French want:

Is Macron's Threat Believable?

• Yes! France picks up seats in the European parliament, Germany doesn't.
• France and Germany are at odds on the way forward in the EU. The UK sees things more like Germany. It is in the French best interest to have the UK out of the EU.
• France wants a European Army. The UK doesn't want the cost.
• Neither France nor Germany wants UK representatives like Nigel Farage disrupting things. Theresa has no control over UK representatives in the European parliament.

My base assumption is that France now wants the UK out of the EU, it just does not want the blame. Yet, things have no gotten so ridiculous, France may be willing to take the blame.

Interesting analysis, and the first time I've seen any discussion of the motivations of the EU countries.