Assimilate

I think it's going to take me a few days to realize what I have done.  This is the first Tour de France for Colombia.  It's not just mine, but for everyone.  Our country deserves it.

I want to thank the entire team, and Geraint [Thomas] for his sportsmanship, and to the entire team that always supported me.  I am the happiest man in the world.  Long live France, and long live Colombia!

I want to get home and assimilate that I have won the Tour.  Right now it still doesn't seem real.

-- 2019 Tour de France champion Egan Bernal, the first Colombian to win, VeloNews, 29 July 2019; Julian Alaphilippe wore the yellow jersey 14 days before a freak summer deluge sent a sea of hail, rain, and snow onto the heights of the French Alps, causing Stage 19 to be neutralized while Bernal led a solo breakaway; the time difference gave Bernal yellow with 2 stages remaining

Sayings Of Antiquity

The superior man acquaints himself with many sayings of antiquity
And many deeds of the past,
In order to strengthen his character thereby.

-- I Ching (易經), also known as the Book of Changes (周易), Chinese classical text believed to have been written by Fu Xi (c. 2800 BCE), ䷙ 26 The Taming Power of the Great, translated by Richard Wilhelm, rendered into English by Cary F. Baynes (1950), Volume 19 of the Bollingen series

A Desk For My Trophy

All I want is a new desk, and maybe a desk for my trophy.

-- 16-year-old Kyle "Bugha" Giersdorf, after winning the $3m top prize in the $30m Fortnite World Cup, the largest e-sports payout in history, 28 July 2019

Medals

The 2020 Olympics in Tokyo have their medals, and all of the gold, silver and bronze medals are derived from recycled smartphones.  A nationwide effort from 2017 to 2019 led to the collection of 6.21 million used mobile devices weighing 78,985 tonnes.  After recycling, that produced 32 kilograms of gold, 3,500 kilograms of silver and 2,200 kilograms of bronze, all of which will go to the 5,000 Olympic and Paralympic medals to be given out next summer.  Also, if anyone wants roughly 77,000 tonnes of shredded plastic, glass and silicon to make trophies for their sporting event, just hit up Japan, they definitely have some to spare.

-- Walt Hickey, citing an article by Natashah Hitti in Dezeen, NumLock News, 26 July 2019

Natural Organ Of Truth

For me, reason is the natural organ of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning. Imagination, producing new metaphors or revivifying old, is not the cause of truth, but its condition.

-- Clive Staples Lewis (1898 - 1963), Irish author, scholar of medieval literature, and Christian apologist, "Bluspels and Flalansferes: A Semantic Nightmare", Rehabilitations (1939)

Exoneration

NADLER: Director Mueller, the president has repeatedly claimed that your report found there was no obstruction and that it completely and totally exonerated him, but that is not what your report said, is it?

MUELLER: Correct.  That is not what the report said.

NADLER: Now, you wrote, quote, "If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state.  Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment," close quote.

Now does that say there was no obstruction?

MUELLER: No.

NADLER: And what about total exoneration?  Did you actually totally exonerate the president?

MUELLER: No.

NADLER: Now, in fact, your report expressly states that it does not exonerate the president.

MUELLER: It does.

NADLER: And your investigation actually found, quote, "multiple acts by the president that were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations, including the Russian interference and obstruction investigations."  Is that correct?

MUELLER: Correct.

-- From the transcript of Robert S. Mueller III’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, 24 July 2019

Dude!

I say to all the doubters: "Dude, we are going to energize the country, we are going to get Brexit done."

-- Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (19 June 1964 -), British politician, popular historian, and journalist who is Prime Minister-designate of the United Kingdom, on being named Leader of the Conservative Party, 23 July 2019

Meta

Today's meta-trvth, from a response I wrote to a "trvth" note on cyber1, after I mentioned that I had 3050 Trvth's published here at trvth.org:


pad/cyber1 7/22/19  9:40pm don appleman/cerl/cyber1

According to my records, there were about 4700 published
Trvth notes in the archives that I saved the day NovaNET 
was decommissioned.  Of those, 2300 were published at
trvth.org, so about 2400 were present on NovaNET prior to
trvth.org.

So, 3050 + 2400, around 5450 ish published?

There were also about 2400 unpublished potential-trvth's
on the NovaNET system which are also archived, and not
counted in the above totals.

It takes 20 years to get 5000 weekdays, but this journey
started in 1981.

Extreme Heat

Folks.  Due to the extreme heat, we are asking anyone thinking of doing criminal activity to hold off until Monday.  It is straight up hot as soccer balls out there.  Conducting criminal activity, in this extreme heat is next level henchmen status, and also very dangerous.

Stay home, blast the AC, binge Stranger Things season 3, play with the face app, practice karate in your basement.  We will all meet again on Monday when it's cooler.

Sincerely,
The PoPo

PS: please no spoiler alerts. We're just finishing season 2

-- The Braintree, Massachusetts Police Department, in a posting on Facebook referring to this weekend's heat wave, 19 July 2019

Hello, Neil And Buzz

Hello, Neil and Buzz.  I'm talking to you by telephone from the Oval Room at the White House.  And this certainly has to be the most historic telephone call ever made.  I just can't tell you how proud we all are of what you've done.  For every American, this has to be the proudest day of our lives.  And for people all over the world, I am sure they too join with Americans in recognizing what an immense feat this is.  Because of what you have done, the heavens have become a part of man's world.  And as you talk to us from the Sea of Tranquility, it inspires us to redouble our efforts to bring peace and tranquility to Earth.  For one priceless moment in the whole history of man, all the people on this Earth are truly one: one in their pride in what you have done, and one in our prayers that you will return safely to Earth.

-- President Richard Nixon, in a phone call to the Apollo 11 astronauts, shortly before midnight, 20 July 1969

In Event Of Moon Disaster

Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.  These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery.  But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.

-- William Safire, in an alternative speech entitled "IN EVENT OF MOON DISASTER" prepared for President Richard Nixon, to be delivered in case the Apollo 11 mission failed with astronauts on the moon, thankfully never needed, 18 July 1969

RIP John Paul Stevens

Money is property; it is not speech.  Speech has the power to inspire volunteers to perform a multitude of tasks on a campaign trail, on a battleground, or even on a football field.  Money, meanwhile, has the power to pay hired laborers to perform the same tasks.  It does not follow, however, that the First Amendment provides the same measure of protection to the use of money to accomplish such goals as it provides to the use of ideas to achieve the same results.

-- Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens (20 April 1920 - 16 July 2019), American lawyer and judge who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1975 until his retirement in 2010, concurring in Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC, 528 U.S. 377 (2000)

Let's See Them Aliens

[Area 51] is an open training range for the U.S. Air Force, and we would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area where we train American armed forces.  The U.S. Air Force always stands ready to protect America and its assets.

-- Air Force spokeswoman Laura McAndrews, regarding a tongue-in-cheek September 20th Facebook event called "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us", now with 1.4M listed as Going; McAndrews added that she could not elaborate on specific plans or security procedures at the base. Washington Post, 12 July 2019

Too Hungry To Eat

You can't problem solve with someone who is angry.  It's like trying to feed a baby who is too hungry to eat.  First you have to de-escalate the baby.

-- Ellis Amdur on the Managing Violence podcast, 11 July 2019

Rules

Learn the rules, break the rules, make up new rules, break the new rules.

-- Marvin Hartley Bell (1937 -), American poet and teacher who was the first Poet Laureate of the state of Iowa, "Thirty-two Statements About Writing Poetry", statement # 5, The Writer's Chronicle, Commemorative Issue (Copper Canyon Press, 2002)

Software Fix

"Boeing designers also gave MCAS [Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System] too much authority, meaning that they allowed it to autonomously move the horizontal stabilizer to the full nose-down limit.

And MCAS was allowed to move the stabilizer in large increments, rapidly and repeatedly until the limit was reached.  Because it moved stabilizer trim intermittently, it was more difficult to recognize it as a runaway trim situation (an uncommanded and uncontrolled trim movement emergency), as appears to have happened in the first crash."

-- Chesley B. 'Sully' Sullenberger III in a statement to the Subcommittee on Aviation of The United States House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, 19 June 2019



The Boeing 737 MAX aircraft crashed twice in a 5-month period, killing 346 passengers and crew.  As a software guy, I hate that the proposed fix is a software update.  I know software sometimes gets people killed, and it's only going to get more complex with time.  I just hope other software guys do their due diligence, and are persistent in pursuit of safety when their work has life-safety implications.

Point Blank

Life is fired at us point blank.

-- Jose Ortega y Gasset (1883 - 1955), Spanish philosopher, Man and People [El hombre y la gente] (1957), p. 42, translated by Willard R. Trask

More Speech

The irony in all of this is that we write at a time in the history of this nation when the conduct of our government and its officials is subject to wide‐open, robust debate.  This debate encompasses an extraordinarily broad range of ideas and viewpoints and generates a level of passion and intensity the likes of which have rarely been seen.  This debate, as uncomfortable and as unpleasant as it frequently may be, is nonetheless a good thing.  In resolving this appeal, we remind the litigants and the public that if the First Amendment means anything, it means that the best response to disfavored speech on matters of public concern is more speech, not less.

The judgment of the District Court is AFFIRMED.

-- Judge Barrington D. Parker, for a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, ruling that President Trump cannot block users on Twitter because he tweets in an official capacity, 9 July 2019

Tangled Web

What a tangled web we weave when we practice to believe.

-- Robert M. Price (1954 -), American theologian and writer, in The Psychology of Biblicism (2007), a modification of the quote from Sir Walter Scott

Independence Day

Good morning.  In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join others from around the world.  And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind.  "Mankind."  That word should have new meaning for all of us today.  We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore.  We will be united in our common interests.  Perhaps it's fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom ...  Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution ...  but from annihilation.  We are fighting for our right to live.  To exist.  And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared in one voice: "We will not go quietly into the night!  We will not vanish without a fight!  We're going to live on!  We're going to survive!  Today we celebrate our Independence Day!"

-- Bill Pullman as President Thomas Whitmore in Independence Day (1996)

Dr. Marijuana Pepsi Vandyck

As of last week, Marijuana Pepsi is now Dr. Marijuana Pepsi Vandyck.

After a life spent being mocked for having an unusual name, the 46-year-old seized on her experience to earn a Ph.D. in higher education leadership.

For her dissertation, titled Black Names in White Classrooms: Teacher Behaviors and Student Perceptions, Vandyck interviewed students and concluded that participants "with distinctly black names" were subject to disrespect, stereotypes and low academic and behavioral expectations.  This resulted in strained relationships, changes in future career choices and self-esteem issues, spelling fewer educational and economic opportunities for students of color.

-- Ari Shapiro on NPR's All Things Considered, 22 June 2019

RIP Lee Iacocca

If you ask me the names of my professors in college or graduate school, I'd have trouble coming up with more than three or four.  But I still remember the teachers who molded me in elementary and high school.

-- Lido Anthony (Lee) Iacocca (15 October 1924 - 2 July 2019), American industrialist, former Chrysler CEO, "Iacocca, An Autobiography" (1984) page 16

Beyond The Reach

Excessive partisanship in districting leads to results that reasonably seem unjust.   But the fact that such gerrymandering is "incompatible with democratic principles," does not mean that the solution lies with the federal judiciary.  We conclude that partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts.  Federal judges have no license to reallocate political power between the two major political parties, with no plausible grant of authority in the Constitution, and no legal standards to limit and direct their decisions. ...

Our conclusion does not condone excessive partisan gerrymandering.  Nor does our conclusion condemn complaints about districting to echo into a void.  The States, for example, are actively addressing the issue on a number of fronts.

-- Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority in Rucho et al v Common Cause et al, ruling that the courts have no role in preventing partisan gerrymandering