Ellen Pao and Elizabeth Holmes intersect

“The Elizabeth Holmes Trial Is a Wake-Up Call for Sexism in Tech” (NYT, 9/15/2021) is a delightful intersection between two of the greatest gifts to this weblog, i.e., Elizabeth Holmes … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

U.K. news: Can the dog also become transgender?

Apple News thought I would love “Singing songs of praise for our non-binary family” (The Sunday Times (not one of the tabloids!)) and the robot overlords were certainly correct. From th… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Humans and dogs no longer so different

Coronapanic in the U.S. has enabled humans and dogs to share more experiences. #CovidBringsUsCloser From Palm Beach Gardens, Florida: (“Dogs are required to be vaccinated and display current … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Righteous versus Wicked (Israel v. Sweden) in the COVID Olympics

“Why Does No One Ever Talk About Sweden Anymore?” (substack, 9/16/2021) has some interesting charts, all adjusted for population size. The virtuous and vaccinated Israelis are being mow… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

The first computerized medical diagnosis systems (late 1950s)

“The Automatic Digital Computer as an Aid in Medical Diagnosis” (1959, Crumb and Rupe) is an interesting example of hope versus reality. Computers will turn medicine into a science and … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Why do asylum-seekers from Haiti have to be rugged enough to survive under a bridge in order to live in the U.S.?

We accept asylum-seekers because it is our moral duty, or so we are informed. Yet, as a practical matter, most of the people who can request asylum are those who are physically tough enough to trav… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Focusing on race and racism just makes the problem worse. (true or false?)

A friend who works at Mass General Brigham, the largest non-government employer in Maskachusetts, was told that he/she/ze/they (to protect this person’s identify, I won’t specify gender… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Waddling back to school: how much did we fatten up our kids via lockdown?

Lockdowns and school closures were advertised as being for the protection of children (as are the current measures limiting kids’ activities). How did Americans do in terms of protecting chil… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Ring cameras sold out; collapse of civilization expected?

We wanted to get a Ring camera for our apartment in Florida. The crime rate in this neighborhood is low, but we have our golden retriever to protect! How worried about crime are Americans? The Ring… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Should we start a matchmaking service between Afghan migrant men and daughters of the righteous?

Photos below of a church in Bethesda, Maryland, one of the nation’s wealthiest neighborhoods (thank you, Big Government!). We learn the preferred pronouns of the minister. Also that Kara Scro… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Taking away guns from people who work in health care and/or for larger employers

Dr. Joe Biden, M.D., Ph.D., has read all of the papers and looked at the data and made a science-informed decision to order anyone who wants to keep working in a Medicare/Medicaid-funded health car… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Is high school LGBQTIA+-ism regional?

Messages from a suburban Massachusetts friend to a group chat: Philip, you were right to move out of hereI just got into my daughter’s phone to read what she and her friends are talking about… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

California governor recall results: Now we know how many Americans love to be locked down?

When friends who don’t follow #Science (most have MDs and/or PhDs) ask why U.S. state governors (except for the infidels in South Dakota and Florida) have generally ordered lockdowns, masks, … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Disability lifestyle getting more attractive under Biden?

I’m wondering if we should expect a massive increase in the number of Americans who transition to the disability lifestyle during the Biden administration. Let’s consider today’s … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

LCD or e-ink screen instead of grille for the front of electric cars?

Electric cars don’t need a cooling airflow from the front, thus rendering grilles superfluous. The Tesla 3 has a flat nose and a slab where you’d expect the grille: Some competitors have figu… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Can the Taliban get Western do-gooders to fund their entire government?

“UN Afghanistan donor conference raises $1 billion with crisis looming” (DW): The UN says humanitarian aid money would go to maintain medical services, the water supply and sanitation f… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Best way to invest in Sweden?

As readers may have noticed, I’m a contrarian when it comes to COVID-19 (along with the 60,000 physicians and PhDs who’ve signed the Great Barrington Declaration). To me, the untested &… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Good news for dogs: Tesla 3 dominates Hyundai, Audi, and Polestar

“Hyundai Ioniq 5 vs Q4 e-Tron vs Polestar 2 vs Model 3 group test (2021) review” (Car, an English magazine) says that the Hyundai is huge and maybe better for carrying adults in the bac… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Coronalogic in Palm Beach County

Mostly-Democrat Palm Beach County was one of the local governments ready to fight the governor’s “no mask orders in schools” order (a.k.a. “parental choice order”) wit… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Vaccine-resisting idiots

Before departing from Maskachusetts last month in the Cirrus SR20 (ferry trip to her new home in the Florida Free State), I mentioned to a woman in the old neighborhood that I’d be visiting a… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Shut down the U.S. Army now that we know more about our limits?

Some 9/11 reflections… U.S. military spending in 2000 was $320 billion. That’s about $520 billion in today’s mini-dollars. The 2021 military spend is about $700 billion (35 percen… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Science: opening schools without masks stops a coronaplague (data from Florida)

Inspired by the official coronascience that I’ve seen in the last 1.5 years, here is an analysis that follows the same logic and methodology…. Florida was suffering from a terrible coro… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Should a criminal defendant be required to wear a mask at trial?

Coronavirus is here to stay, just as the Swedish MD/PhDs said back in February 2020 (“don’t lock down unless you’re willing to keep everyone at home for the next 20 years”).… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Express lanes: dumbness with concrete for a country that can’t be intelligent with electronics

As part of our escape to the Florida Free State, I drove our minivan down I-95 from Maskachusetts. Mindy the Crippler and I hit traffic in Virginia, associated with an I-95 Express Lane extension p… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Relative importance of getting a ride from Uber versus helping the Afghan refugees

A follow-up to We care more about Afghan migrants than about homegrown indigent? … To celebrate the company’s plan to provide 86 cents per Afghan refugee (see below), the Uber app now h… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

A little more support for my ventilation system upgrade idea

Build downdraft paint booths for K-12 schools? (July 2020, here on this blog): The technology for downdraft paint booths is highly advanced … Why not a system for schools in which (a) each cl… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) was itself the cause of loss of pressure…

The idea of indirect monitoring of tire pressure with sensors already on the car, e.g., wheel speed from the ABS system (just look to see if wheels are spinning at different speeds and/or look at G… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

The governments that preserved us from coronavirus now start giving us the bill

“National insurance hike sets UK on path to record level of taxes” (CNN): UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to hike payroll taxes to raise billions in funding for health and … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Intersection of aviation and coronapanic: the flying COVID-19 testing lab

From a flight planning service (for Gulfstreams and similar jets): As mentioned last week and in yesterday’s webinar, we now have a program to help you eliminate the wasted time and risks associate… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

We care more about Afghan migrants than about homegrown indigent?

Prior to coronapanic, approximately 40 million Americans were suffering in poverty (HHS). To these unfortunates, 8 million were added via shutdowns, mask orders, and economic slowdowns (Bloomberg).… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Meth head Sudafed policies adapted for PC sales

A lot of retail in Cambridge, Maskachusetts did not survive the coronapanic shutdowns and mask orders. Micro Center did however, and while up in Boston to retrieve the Cirrus SR20 I stopped in for … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Unable to cure COVID-19, physicians turn to planetary physics

“Action on Climate Change Is Urged by Medical Journals in Unprecedented Plea” (WSJ, today): Editors of 220 leading medical, nursing and public-health journals from around the world call… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

How relevant is diversity and inclusion to AT&T?

Our Internet provider here in the Florida Free State is AT&T. I was trying to contact them about changing my name on the bill to “Greenspun” from “Greenstun” and somehow… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Andrew Cuomo as the modern Boethius

Fortuna’s wheel has spun downward for Andrew Cuomo. Who could have predicted this? Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, for one. From Wikipedia: In 522, the same year his two sons were appointed joi… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Wave of death among the elderly bankrupts Social Security

COVID-19 is the world’s greatest source of cognitive dissonance. We are informed by the CDC that roughly 640,000 Americans have died from COVID-19. The same agency tells us that deaths are co… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Coronapanic is a huge boon for tenured faculty

A friend gets a guaranteed salary as a tenured professor at M.I.T. If he wants to drive away from his comfortable home, fight through the Boston traffic (back with a vengeance), and work all day in… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Cambridge, Maskachusetts back under a mask order

From August 27, “City of Cambridge Issues Emergency Order Requiring Use of Face Masks in Indoor Public Places, Effective September 3, 2021”: The City of Cambridge issued an emergency or… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

In-person versus virtual learning effectiveness

Now that the school year is upon us, with periodic coronapanic shutdowns following positive PCR results, it seems like a good time to share the results from our MIT ground school course. We’v… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Revive the abortion bus idea?

Top of the front page of CNN.com on a day when New York City was flooded, with multiple fatalities, by the leftovers from Hurricane Ida: “Biden launches ‘whole of government’ effo… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Cancel my order for 200 million COVID-19 vaccine booster shots?

“Are We Jumping the Gun on COVID Boosters?” (MedPage Today, August 24, 2021): Diminishing vaccine effectiveness supposedly makes the case for boosters. But there are two big questions h… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Not everyone in Florida is a Deplorable Neanderthal (children’s section of a Palm Beach County library)

Folks in Maskachusetts tend to be scornful of Florida, dismissing it as a “Red state” with “stupid” residents. But you won’t see a big difference at our local public library (the Jupiter branch of … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Back-to-school anti-racism

Today it’s back to school for students in Lincoln, Maskachusetts. They’ll be fully masked, of course, by local order (from June 2: “We will follow state guidelines in the fall, wh… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Florida first impressions

We’ve been Florida residents since mid-August. Here are a few first impressions… One of the most important issues to folks in Maskachusetts, at least to judge by lawn signs, emails from… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Following the science in Australia

Department of “Surely coronavirus won’t be waiting for us after we emerge from our bunkers”. From Twitter: Best headline: “Australia Almost Eliminated the Coronavirus by Putting Faith in Scie… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Should Toyota bring back the Corona?

From the Henry Ford Museum: “Toyota Corona” was a good name in 1966. Could it be considered a great name for the 2022 model year? The trim levels can be “Wild type” (or “Not Chinese”?),… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

What’s the correct level of panic regarding Hurricane Ida?

The front page of cnn.com makes the situations caused by Hurricane Ida sound pretty bad: Given that U.S. media adopts a hysterical tone almost every day, should we be skeptical of the forecast doom… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Forced vaccination in the Land of Liberty (TM)

“Should the Government Impose a National Vaccination Mandate?” (New Yorker, by Jeannie Suk Gersen (quoted in the Domestic Violence chapter of Real World Divorce) provides a good window … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Hidden car price increase: destination charge inflation

My mid-life crisis order from General Motors was pushed from the 2021 model year to the 2022 model year. There have been two price increases since the order was placed in January, but there is also… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago