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Horn of Gabriel

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Everything posted by Horn of Gabriel

  1. Great article from The Times (UK version) on COVID's origins. Paywalled link to original ... non-paywalled link There's some good summary in here of stuff we already know. And some new details I hadn't heard, and I follow this story closely. But TL;DR: Wuhan Institute of Virology was doing gain-of-function research on coronaviruses as far back as 2008 WIV was indirectly funded by the US Gov't NIH via EcoHealth Alliance, to the tune of millions of $'s over many years The US got progressively more cautious about funding GoF over the past 10 years, but, surprise! Peter Daszak at EcoHealth found loopholes by either lying, feigning ignorance, or convincing allies in NIH that what he was funding wasn't actually dangerous or was just so worth it that they should bypass restrictions on funding WIV was doing their research on coronaviruses at BSL2, which is basically the standard for a dentist's office. US Biosafety Lab guidelines state this research should be BSL3 at a minimum, which is full PPE (spacesuits) and partitioned air supplies for researchers, with independent medical supervision for researchers if they show symptoms. WIV had a parallel weaponization program running with the People's Liberation Army (PLA), who had staff onsite. Essentially the US Gov't was funding PLA bioweapons research /epic facepalm The virologist community is small and closely collaborative, and apparently doesn't think at all about the consequences of their actions. A US researcher at the Univ. of North Carolina provided specific advanced knowledge to WIV scientists on how to insert the furin cleavage to viruses, which makes the many times more infectious to humans. WIV run a "serialization" program on humanized mice (mice with human DNA) to both test infectiousness (standard) but also to rapidly induce mutations in viruses to make them deadlier. They'd expose humanized mice to a coronavirus (the closest natural relative to COVID taken from the bats in mines in China), see which mice died or got the sickest. Then harvest THOSE viruses from those mice and repeat the experiment over and over, accelerating and compounding natural evolution process that would take years/decades into weeks/months. WIV researchers and their families came down with COVID-like symptoms in Oct/Nov 2019. The original hot spot of infections was not the wet market, but in a radius directly around WIV, per research done by US intelligence A PLA vaccine specialist working at WIV applied for a patent for a COVID vaccine in February 2020. US researchers say such rapid progress would only be possible if they were already working the vaccine in Nov 2019. Oh and that vaccine specialist died a few months later after "falling off the roof of the WIV building." Anyway if you still believe a natural crossover, I'm not sure what could convince you at this point. I'm clearly on the side of lab release, probably accidental but still a massive problem. The article also talks about how the strain that escaped from WIV was one of the more mild versions. They had another version that killed 75% of the humanized mice it touched. That would have been fun. Imagine every nuke in every silo in the world going off simultaneously. Now imagine a big red button that could do that, but that button exists in every lab performing GoF research in the world. That's what we have now.
  2. What is Saban's stance on Russian aggression? And would he defend it with a cover 2?
  3. I think I read somewhere last year that Homefield (and others) were limited by the retro logos that UT agreed to release/license to them. Which I agree are shitty last year and this year. We're the problem, it's us. 47 Brand had the best retro t-shirts a few years ago, I still have one that I miss a bunch. CDC said that they were coming back to UT, we'll see about that.
  4. At which point dickhead prof says: "Yes, of course I do, don't you?"
  5. Why are you replacing that hat so soon? That still has a few years of life left in it. Wasteful!
  6. No one says no when Texas and OU come calling. You say yes and figure it out. We'll get to 9, it's a matter of when and how much. ...Imagine Sankey saying "Sorry Texas and OU we'll just need to open a who-knows-how-long media negotiation with ESPN on your value before we say yes." Everyone knows what would have happened: word of Texas/OU leaving would have leaked earlier, A&M would have a lot more time to rev up opposition at the state level and in the SEC, and we would be stuck in the boat anchor big 12 for god knows how long.
  7. I believe I read that the SEC's contract w/ Disney included a pro rata increase for any added teams above 14, so they are already getting "more money." This kerfuffle is that the SEC wants even more than the pro rata increase because they added Texas and OU, which are additive above/beyond the average SEC team, plus going to the 9-game schedule would have added a ton of "extra" high-value games. No sense to give those extra games in the 9-game away for "free," as part of the pro rata's baked in increase; they have more value than that and Disney should pay for it. Sounds like right now Disney's business situation didn't allow for that, or they weren't open to paying enough for it. So, away we go with 8. I really believe if you gave the coaches and AD's of every SEC program truth serum, they'd all say that 9-games is a better fan experience and better for the SEC. But with just the pro rata increase, losing the home cupcake game revenues (and potentially the bowl game, although I think that aspect is overblown) are bigger than the additional TV cut they're going to get.
  8. I read that (wrong?) as jk was saying that Saban was pissed that people are buying players, which I found ironic b/c that's exactly what Saban has been doing for years. Missed the "out and out" part which I guess means in the open. Gave jk some pos rep
  9. Pretty common knowledge that Texas didn't do the bag game at the level of SEC-SEC-SEC programs. Not saying that in a high falutin' we're-better-than-you way; many fans wanted Texas to go there, and we historically didn't. Now we are with NIL.
  10. Nope. "Buying players" isn't new. He's pissed because Bama used to be able to buy players under the table with bags and programs like Texas didn't get into that game as much. Now it's all above board with NIL and Texas and others are in the game now, legally. So he's lost a big asymmetric advantage he used to have in our presumptive surrender to not play the bag game.
  11. Interesting bit from the CBS sports article above: Lulz
  12. We will fucking riot if it's an 8 game trash schedule. JFC this is the easiest decision ever.
  13. Different question for the futbol heads: what changed from last year to this year that took us from the top of the standings (er, table?) to the bottom?
  14. Didn't Wolff just get a 3 year extension? I don't know enough about soccer to comment on systems, aside from we've sucked at scoring this year. Also I don't like that Wolff plays his son on the team...if you're going to play your son he better be God-like, and Wolff Jr ain't that.
  15. For those who geek on reading this stuff: from the Congressional Research Service - China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities
  16. So aside from the absurdity of relocating 23M+ people to "somewhere else," there may be a nugget of goodness in here. We could offer a completely streamlined green card/residency program for Taiwanese nationals and their families who have a certain education level or are in certain industries that we want to absorb (chip manufacturing?). Of course that would: 1) really piss off the government of Taiwan for brain draining their population, 2) signal that we see their country as a lost cause and those who can had better get on the lifeboat and if you can't, "sorry," and 3) doesn't do anything to replicate the extensive infrastructure in manufacturing that TSMC and others have built up there which will take a decade or more to rebuild elsewhere.
  17. For @Mullet Free or for others' future reference: TEA Complaints & Investigations Overview TEA Complaints Management File complaints against a school district or charter school with TEA for: Violations of programs required by federal law or programs for which the public education agency receives federal funds Misuse of federal or state funds by a public education agency Conditions at a school district or charter school that present a danger to the health, safety, or welfare of the students Violations of duties defined by statute or rule of school district boards of trustees, governing bodies of public charter schools, or superintendents or chief operating officers of school districts and public charter schools Violations of state assessment instrument security procedures Falsifications, fraudulent misrepresentations, or manipulations of information, including manipulations of records, reports, data, forms, statements of assurances, or certifications submitted to TEA through the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) Educator misconduct (BOLD ADDED) TEA Complaints Management Contact Info - complaintsmanagement@tea.texas.gov or (512) 463-3544 TEA Online Complaint Form <-- OP should go here if interested as a starting point Local Grievance Process (PDF) My wife (no pics) works at TEA, although thank god not in complaints and investigations. I realize to some people that makes her the devil because like any government agency we all love to shit on TEA, it's a popular whipping boy and has its fair share of screwups. OTOH there are also a lot of highly motivated, smart, and competent people there who know their shit wrt education as well. Because of our independent school district setup in Texas, the legislature has defined some very strong boundaries for what TEA is allowed to do, and what it isn't - and that extends to investigations. Many people think that TEA is some overlord of Texas schools, but my experience has been different: TEA sets guidance, provides training, and monitors for compliance. It can establish escalating penalties for noncompliance in specific instances but aside from very rare cases like the takeover of HISD (which, again, had to be specifically authorized by the TX legislature), that's rare. Our political leanings in TX favor local control so the enforcement part of TEA is relatively weak, and that's all by design. The vast majority of issues are handled at the district level by their administration - and those districts really don't like TEA poking around in what they consider to be "their business." And BTW if your issue is with a private school in Texas, TEA's jurisdiction is limited, contact: Texas Private School Accreditation Commission (TEPSAC) 3801 N Capital of TX Hwy Suite E-240 PMB 173 Austin, TX 78746 (512) 499-8377 https://www.tepsac.org/#/contact
  18. First, your MS paint skill are shit. So congrats you can stay on Surlyhorns. Second, I agree. The tie between the SEZ and the rest of the stadium is horribad. Allthough they'd probably upsize the upper part because in your shitty MS paint it looks dinky now. Hell they coulda added 2 more columns of luxury box stacks on either side. Probably would oversaturate that market however. Aside from the tie in, the materials just look "off." They're using exposed metal all over the new SEZ and you don't see that anywhere else - the rest of DKR is stone and rock.
  19. The SEZ looks completely different than the rest of the stadium in its design. I don't accept the footprint issue - as the new football training facility shows, is if there's a will there's a way to overcome that, it's just money and the AD has loads of it. Money is the reason we got the SEZ we did and not the master plan in the model: the current SEZ adds a bunch of luxury boxes vertically on the edges that wouldn't be possible under the master plan version above. Those lux boxes generate millions of dollars of additive yearly revenues to the AD that closing the stadium into a bowl would not.
  20. It's too bad b/c that looks about a billion times better than what we got.
  21. I loved it, great twists and psychological thriller. Loved that KS's role was super paranoid and how that informed the story. Charles Dance was great as usual.
  22. This is a PITA problem I've been dealing with in our house. Your options: Do nothing - find another spot. Least expensive and most likely to create wife issues Install TV above mantle - Expensive! Not only do you have to run power down behind the rock wall and poke it through (special wire too because it's next to the chimney flu), you probably also want to run an Ethernet cable for streaming (because wifi sucks). Then you have to mount the TV into the rock, which means permanently destroying that nice rock wall. Even when all that is done, as many have mentioned, you have a TV that you have to crane your neck to watch. One place this is OK: if your kitchen it behind the couch and you're going to be standing up in the kitchen doing stuff then the TV will be eye level. Do a drop down screen + projector - probably less expensive than you think assuming you don't already have the TV to install. Plus it tucks away nicely when you're not using it and you can retain the nice mantle + fireplace for times you're not using the TV. Downsides: if the room gets a lot of natural light, or if you have a strong breeze in there with a big ceiling fan it might not be as good. Also some people just don't like projectors. This is kinda a best-of-both worlds solution. You'll still need to run power and internet but sometimes that's easier through the ceiling if it's a single story... There's no good solution, you're in a "choose the least-worst" situation here...gl
  23. Nike's B1G footprint TV advertising spend isn't going to move the needle. And if he threatened to pull apparel deals with B1G schools, I'm 1000% sure that Adidas, UA, etc would be waiting in the wings to snap up those brands.
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