Science roundup: Drake equation, tooth repair, more

I've long thought that the Drake equation in its original was too fuzzy on some parameters, and both the original and various tweaks were too optimistic. It's kind of like Gnu Atheism, I think. There, many Gnus are also Jesus mythicists, like they have to prove his nonexistence to prove atheism.

With SETI types, it's like they have to prove the existence of life on other planets to disprove creationism.

Well, one potential misassumption, which I didn't think of before, but pointed out recently by Nautilus, is that perhaps the speed of evolution is different in various places, and so many otherwise Earthlike planets may simply have not gotten reasonably intelligent life developed before their sun went to red giant and then steps beyond. 

Or, the flip side is true. Due to loss of information about evolution here on Earth, we may assume certain key steps were unique and they actually weren't.

The flip side to both of these flip sides is that SETI searches appear to assume biological development elsewhere will in general be relatively Earthlike. 

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A new gel that can actually rebuild tooth enamel? Huge if it can be brought to market. Especially huge for the "developing world" if that's true and also capitalists don't try to charge an arm and a leg. Here's why:

According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 3.7 billion people worldwide have some form of oral disease, and the erosion of enamel – the tough, mineralized protective outer layer of our teeth – is a massive contributor to one of the largest issues, tooth decay.

Even in the developed world, even in countries more enlightened than the US with some sort of national health care, dental care is usually NOT part of the bag. It is for minor children and/or senior citizens in some countries and that's it. 

CAIR suing Greg Abbott

That's the big story, to me, out of Strangeabbott declaring the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and the Muslim Brotherhood, as "transnational terror organizations" then directing his butt-flunkies at DPS to open an criminal investigation against both.

That latter is clearly a page out of Donald the Demented's playbook.

The former? First, since Strangeabbott is not a president of a country (contra Tex-ass exceptionalism of the Texas nationalist type of wet dreams) is nugatory, first of all. 

It's also baseless, even per Donald the Demented's State Department:

Neither the Muslim Brotherhood nor CAIR is listed on the U.S. State Department’s list of terrorist groups.

There you are. 

It's also bullshit:

Abbott also said the investigation will target people or groups “who unlawfully impose Sharia law,” which he said violates the Texas Constitution.

Because these groups don't do that. 

Speaking of? This part:

Murtaza Sutarwalla, president of the Muslim Bar Association of Houston, spoke at the same news conference and rejected Abbott’s “repeated claims that the Sharia law is banned in Texas.”

Is true. 

Federal law allows the use of private religious law between consenting private religious individuals and authorities.   

Strangeabbott is either legally ignorant himself, playing off others' ignorance, or some combination. 

Ditto for him attempting to fuse and conflate CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood. 

Here's the bottom-line legal angle:

Abbott’s declaration opens up an array of potential constitutional issues, said Emily Berman, a professor at the University of Houston Law Center. Limiting property purchases based on viewpoints and religious affiliation could prove problematic under the First Amendment and the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. 

“What is the motivation of these designations?” Berman said. “Is it about their religious views? Is it about their viewpoints on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which would be another First Amendment red flag? You can’t discriminate on the basis of someone’s viewpoint.” 

The designation also raises due process concerns, Berman said, given that it’s not clear how groups can formally challenge the designation. 

The U.S. Secretary of State holds the power to designate a group a foreign terrorist organization, though they must notify Congress and publish the designation in the Federal Register. An organization can appeal that designation within 30 days of that publication. 

It’s not clear whether such a process exists at the state level. In the order, Abbott said he consulted with Freeman Martin, Texas Department of Public Safety director, and the state’s Homeland Security Council to determine whether to make the designation as required under state law. Whether groups can appeal the state-level designations is unclear. 

It’s possible CAIR, for example, could challenge the law in court by arguing the state is overstepping its bounds by making laws around national security matters, Berman said.

Period. End of story. 

The second story? 

As I told Kuff in commenting on his Off the Kuff story about Abbott's original proclamation, we all know what this is about: Palestine and Palestinians. The dog that IS barking, repeatedly, in Texas and that Kuff refuses to write about. And, Kuff and other Democraps who refuse to talk about the barking dog only encourage mouthbreathers like Strangeabbott and Legiscritter Cole Hefner.

Happy Thanksgiving, you bigotry and genocide fellow traveler. 

See, Abbott is one of many modern American conservative cafeteria Catholics who have approached modern fundagelical Protestants on many issues, including Israel and Zionism, even though Rome, like old mainline Protestant churches, is officially amillennial on the book of Revelation. 

Per the bullshit above, though, Abbott would turn a blind eye toward a Kiryeas Joel in Tex-ass. 

Southwest er Southworst has officially shit the bed

I have not taken a non-Southwest flight anywhere in more than a decade, probably since Southworst decided to not follow legacy airlines in not charging for checked bags.

Well, their clusterfuck decision to do that earlier this year, combined with other David Singer changes?

As of last Thursday, it was $25 cheaper, or $15 less slightly higher prices for a checked bag, to go American for my Christmas-New Year holiday. (Further Googling says the AA charges the same as Southworst if I pay online; at least on its own site, I can't tell if Southworst offers such an option.)

My one brother, long a mild to moderate road warrior for his biz, said that the AA was long cheaper for him out of St. Louis, where he lives. For me, in the past, Southworst had generally been cheaper, period, PLUS the lack of checked bag fees.

What a clusterfuck. 

I promised, in March, that when Southworst announced the end of bags fly free, I'd look at American (and others). Southworst made that easier by listing on Expedia and Travelocity, along with the other legacy airlines. The comparison is made easier there by those sites listing bag fees as you go through the price choice; Southworst doesn't do that on its own site.

Is this clusterfuckery part of the "more changes" vulture capitalist Paul Singer said he wanted in May? 

Don't forget that Southworst starts assigned seating next January. 

I'll probably eat the extra $15 if nothing else changes. Leaving an hour later is of advantage to not feel rushed. Parking at both airports is about the same; hate that Love got rid of that el cheapo remote lot on Harry Hines.

Check that. Yesterday, but a few days after I started writing this? I checked again. American had dropped about $30, and added a flight (or I missed it earlier) that runs an hour later than Southworst. Southworst, meanwhile, went UP on the old flight.

Tweeting again to Southwest with a tag got their attention. Yes, popular fares fill first. Also yes, American added a flight and dropped costs. 

That said, when the bag fee was announced, I thought the corner office people would only charge $15 for the first bag, figuring they'd retain most of their family travel biz that way while still making more money. God, Paul Singer is a Dum Fuq. 

If I'm still here in the Metromess in a couple more years, we'll see if Love's long-term expansion leads to lower parking rates, and more competition on airlines with the new terminal. We'll also see who flies out of McKinney once that has its passenger terminal open. Were I the FAA, United would get first shot among legacy airlines.

As of early this year, here's where that was at:

McKinney is in negotiations with two airlines for passenger service. Fuller says this will mean flights to major markets like Las Vegas, Orlando, Los Angeles, New York, and Denver. He noted that TKI would serve as a regional operations base for one of the airlines.

Denver? That could mean United is indeed one of the two airlines, since that's a hub. I'll take it. 

Especially with the 2023 bond issue failing (maybe they try another after commercial service opens?) this won't be big at all, but it will be something. 

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Update: Given the above, why does Southwest need to expand by 2,000 employees in Austin? 

Black ranchers, White racism?

Maybe, maybe not. Maybe in part, and in part other things.

Black Country and white racism. That's the gist of a Barbed Wire piece saying that calling Blacks "country" is a general put-down that often has racism behind it.

Well, sometimes white racism, or the claims of White racism, to be more precise, as one of the Barbed Wire's links is WAY more complicated, and probably the Black ranchowners are as much more sinners than sinned against.

The Mallerys’ [the Black ranchers] time in Colorado has been marked by a litany of encounters with neighbors and law enforcement — and it goes beyond the dispute with Clark [the White rancher neighbor]. 

On April 7, 2021, Jake Saksteder arrived at Freedom Acres Ranch to serve Courtney Mallery with civil papers regarding a property case. 

The 24-year-old said he had delivered countless legal documents during his job as a process server. Sometimes people would try and evade him or yell, he told The Post. But he’d never had an encounter like the one at the ranch that day. 

Saksteder told The Post that he walked around the property, knocking on several doors, but didn’t get an answer. 

Nicole Mallery then burst out of the shed with a shotgun pointed at his head, Saksteder said. Much of his encounter is captured on video from his phone, which was released by El Paso County authorities this week. 

“What the (expletive) are you doing?” Nicole shouts at the process server, according to the video. Saksteder tries to tell her several times that he’s there to serve Courtney Mallery with legal papers. 

“I swear to God, relax, I’m leaving!” Saksteder says in the video. 

He told The Post that he saw Mallery cock the weapon and that’s when he took off running, chased by a dog. Audio from the video makes out the sound of a shot fired into the air. 

“It was aimed well above me,” Saksteder said. “It wasn’t a shot to kill — it was definitely a warning. Like, keep moving fast.” 

In statements to El Paso County deputies that day, Nicole Mallery allegedly gave a false date of birth and changed the state of her identification, according to an arrest affidavit. She told deputies that she kept asking the process server to produce identification, demanding he say why he was trespassing on her property.

Result? This:

Mallery was charged with felony menacing, fraud, bribery of a public servant and making a false report, court records show. She ultimately pleaded guilty to making a false report, a misdemeanor, and received two years probation, the documents show. The district attorney dismissed the remainder of the counts.

And, there is another case, that was facing trial as of the time this story was written in early 2023. 

Here's another:

In one event, in April 2021, Nicole Mallery allegedly kicked a sheriff’s deputy repeatedly in his legs and bit him on his forearm, according to a summary of the encounter. She was charged with second-degree assault of a peace officer and received a two-year deferred sentence, court records show.

As for an NAACP person asking why a SWAT team was sent? Well, if early April 2021 was after April 7, 2021, shit, that's easy to answer. 

And this old chestnut:

In body-camera video, Nicole Mallery can be heard calling one of the Black sheriff’s deputies a “field negro” and other personnel “white trash” and Klu Klux Klan members.

Well, there you are. 

Well, let's add in that the sheriff is Hispanic. And that, per other pieces at The Barbed Wire, Taylor Crumpton has a history of going over the top. 

And, the Barbed Wire's editorial staff didn't look through that piece, nor did they note the 2023 pending trial, nor do a follow-up. (The charges were dropped just months later. That still doesn't mean that El Paso County deputies were racist, nor were neighbors. That said, they claim that one neighbor — not mentioned by name —was "disapproving" of their being there from the start. We assume they're talking about Ms. Clark, who reportedly threatened the NAACP's Prescott and reportedly sexualized one interaction with CW Mallery, per this. Another story, from Springs TV, also shows the issue seems to be "complex.")

As for where we stand? The Mallerys threatened a suit when charges were dropped. No way they would have defeated sovereign immunity, if filed against El Paso County. No way they would have beaten Teresa Clark, given Nicole's past history. 

Per this long piece from another Springs TV station, El Paso County Sheriff's Office at one time had some sort of response to The Ark, the online news site beating the drum for the Mallerys, but that's been taken down. Well, except for the Wayback Machine. The SO said it was hiding nothing and asked why the Ark didn't contact it for comment. There's not much on Ark Republic's "about" page. And, it doesn't report on the process server issue at all.

Off the top of my head? 50 percent entitled old rancher privilege, 25 percent racism, 25 percent newcomers not making more effort to fit in from the start, and 85 percent of that 25 percent being Nicole. 

Colorado Springs Gazette has a lot more, including the murder conviction of a man who killed a Mallery ranch hand. Contra the Mallerys' claim, the case seems to indicate drug issues, with the Mallery hand hugely high on meth. He was killed  in 2021, shortly after the process server showed up. Per this piece, the Mallerys bought the land in August 2020. So, it took not much more than six months for everything to explode, per the guesstimated percentages above.

And, it was about an easement mentioned in several stories above, and related items, per this:

The dispute began not long after the Mallerys moved to Yoder in 2020 and set up a video security system along the fence that borders the easement between their 1,000-acre property, Freedom Acres Ranch, and Clark’s land. The easement is a spur of dirt road that, while it technically lies on the Mallery property, was set aside by the county for use by residents, including Clark, who need it to access their properties. A gate along the easement opens to the Mallery land, but it lies more than a half-mile from the main entrance to their ranch and even farther from the couple’s residence and outbuildings.

This fits the last 25 percent to a T. You just don't block easements out west. Hell, you don't do that in Tex-ass and they should know that. Also, putting up video cameras as soon as you move in makes it look like you're prepared to be untrusting from the start. 

As for the Mallerys wanting a CAREN Act passed in Colorado? Yes, Amy Cooper was a Karen. And? Jussie Smollett cried wolf. 

The sheriff's page was deleted due to charges being dropped after mediation failed. Contra both the Ark and White wingnuts, it seems like both Clark and the Mallerys were committing lawfare by 911.  Elsewhere, Sheriff Roybal called out Nicole Mallery.

And, that's another half-hour of my life wasted because modern editors are lazy and modern staff writers like to go down the advocacy hole. 

 Also, interesting, High Country News, with both its real "wokefulness" its wrongful version of this decade, has nothing about the Mallerys.

Texas Progressives talk redistricting, state candidacies, more

Off the Kuff had multiple posts about the redistricting ruling.

SocraticGadfly read about Joaquin Castro's latest excuse for not running for statewide office and mocked him.

Zionists committing lawfare against unions cuz Palestine. Something else Palestinian-hating Kuffner won't tell you. 

A N M faculty board says Melissa McCoul was wrongly fired over a gender lesson. Note that word "non-binding" on its findings. Interim President Tommy Williams (note that word "interim") is free to ignore it, though it is nonetheless ammo for McCoul's lawsuit. That said, add in that the committee said the student who filmed her should have been investigated for possible violation of university rules. We're definitely going to get more of this in the post-Charlie Kirk world.

Kenny Boy, the state's chief privacy invader, is butt-hurt about his divorce privacy possibly being invaded. 

"Partisan federalism" is the phrase for how Strangeabbott is kowtowing to Trump, per Pro Publica. "Hypocrisy, thy name is Legion" would be mine.

Claiming SCOTUS shadow docket rulings have limited precedent is one way of shoving them to the curb. 

Neil at the Houston Democracy Project says with citations or even a couple of days in jail, Mayor Whitmire may be using police and the law to go after opponents and people in the way of his plans.

Franklin Strong celebrates the wins from the November school board elections. Steve Vladeck breaks down the Trump administration's "war on judges".

Texas 2036 shows you what to expect from the 2026 Affordable Care Act marketplace.

Lise Olsen counts up the cost of targeting international students in Texas.

People I've blocked on Substack and why

I haven't done this on Shitter, since it's its own universe, and never really had to do it here on Blogger, and you can't really, anyway (though I can and do moderate comments and not just for spam) but, since this and Substack overlap for me in some way, I decided to start developing a curated list of people I've blogged on Substack.

I've missed a number of early ones; I could go through my list over there, but I'd have to unblock them to figure out WHY I blocked them in the first place.

With a list started from scratch, I can do that at the time.

Allen: Both a Uki-tankie and an Israeli genocide denier, who claims every Gazan action of recent years has happened without provocation, and that, on the other issue, Russia has been committing at least cultural genocide against Ukraine for 200 years, along with accepting Ukrainian hasbara (sic) on other things.

Paolo Kirk: Pre-emptive block for someone who is antisemitic, not just anti-zionist, and who also needs about eight rabies shots, all administered at once. 

ML: Zionist, antivaxxer pseudoscience, wingnut culture warriors all in their reads. Plus, anybody who has 200 Substacks in their "reads" is virtue signaling. 

Michael Lynch: Antivaxxer, climate science denialist, probably alt-whiter combined with Christian nationalism, cutter of blank checks to Putin because of that.

Amuse: Restacked by Lynch, and a general nutter I'd already blocked on Shitter. 

Clinton Tankersley: A diehard, lying Zionist, complete with tropes in this piece guested at Ed Buckner's place, that the media is anti-Israel, that mass rapes actually happened

A number of those people get me to noting that once again, contra the lying pseudo-leftist Noah Berlatsky, horseshoe theory is real. 

The Haeft? A goy Zionist (and Christian nationalist Reform UK supporting Canadian pan-Anglosphere nutter).

Stacey Saadi? A wingnut in general, and a hasbaraist in particular. There IS NO SUCH THING as "an accidental Zionist." 

Penelope Bullis? Per my Substack note: Do I block someone who just followed me, because they’re a 9/11 truther, antivaxxer an alt-med/pseudo-med Mercola type beyond that, New Age quackery beyond that, and other types of nutter? Probably, though maybe not immediately. Oops, you follow Curtis Yarvin, aka Mencius Moldbug as well. And, at least one anti-semitic, not anti-Zionist account.

Eric Tollefson. Libs of TikTok is also on Substack? Oh shit? You follow them? Bye! 

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Not blocked, but unsubbed again? 

First, from Sy Hersh. He was becoming more and more "Captain Obvious" (in cases where he wasn't wrong) and putting up the paywall bar after one paragraph of Captain Obvious comment. Then, some non-leftist thought he'd harsh my mallow when I posted a Substack note to that end. Since I started writing this, he's gotten worse. "Is Trump in Cognitive Decline," Oct. 7, paywalled. Or, Sept. 17, the first of a three-part series about explaining AI, with the fun of Hersh talking about "the cloud" and the Captain Obvious of the person who's interviewed in all three parts talking about AI's electricity use. No shit. 

Second, the Column Blog by Adam Johnson. I largely agree with what he says, but he doesn't write that that often, and he doesn't have much unique stuff. Plus, for reasons unknown, maybe that I called him a pseudoleftist, a non-skeptical leftist or whatever, he's blocked me on Shitter. 

Third, Palestine is Still the Issue, for "platforming" Jim DeBrosse's nutbar conspiracy theory within the already nutbar world of JFK conspiracy theories, that Israel whacked Jack. (I'm still debating on unfollowing Tim Shorrock again, as a JFK conspiracy theorist himself.)

Fourth, Ed Buckner was originally here, but this got so long as to get a separate piece.

Fifth, and both on Substack and Shitter? Bye to Zei Squirrel. He is a Charlie Kirk conspiracy theorist, claiming, per this Shitter link in this Substack piece:

This one might get its own post. And eventually did.

 

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As you would expect, this will be regularly updated, and the first update is just three days after I posted.

Nutter William Pounds, because he is a nutter. 

Esteban Yehudeem, an ultra-Zionist mouthbreather.