And while I was chasing puny little striped bass on Maine's Casco Bay, Katie was after bigger fry out west
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On the Columbia (yeah, I don’t have her looks or her muscles)
Parents can now see what's being fed their kids and the "educators" are freaking out.
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Lengthy article here, with examples, about the on-line schooling sessions exposing state indoctrination.
[Rutherford County Schools]: “RCS strongly discourages non student observation of online meetings due to the potential of confidential information about a student being revealed.”
The form asks parents for their signature and warns that “violation of this agreement may result in RCS removing my child from the virtual meeting.”
“We have issued new guidance to principals that parents can assist their children during virtual group lessons with permission of the instructor but should refrain from sharing or recording any information about other students in the classroom.”
A Mathew Kay, from the “Scientific Leadership Academy” in Philadelphia has also been worrying:
“So, this fall, virtual class discussions will have many potential spectators — parents, siblings, etc. — in the same room. We’ll never be quite sure who is overhearing the discourse. What does this do for our equity/inclusion work?”
Defund the schools.
UPDATE: The statists aren’t going to let their prisoners go without a struggle.
Montana Democrats force Green Party from the ballot
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Democracy in action
Montana’s one of the swing vote senatorial races, and the Democrats feared that votes for the Green’s candidate would allow the Republican to squeeze in.
The Massholes who’ve invaded Maine the past decade saw this problem and solved it some years ago with ranked-choice voting: go ahead and vote for your radical looney candidate, but select our approved candidate as your second choice. When your lunatic fails to achieve 51% of the vote, we’ll add your second-rank vote to our guy’s and we’ll see you in D.C. on Inauguration Day.
Give your most radical voters a way to harmlessly vent, while keeping them in the fold — genius. Look for ranked-choice to twin with mail-in voting and be ubiquitous by the next election cycle.
Ugly is as ugly sells
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498 Lake Avenue, part of the subdivision of the old princess’s estate at the Round Hill Road intersection, is pending at $6.995 million. The design strikes me as hideous, but the listing description tells who it was targeted at, and what do they care about design when they’re scrambling for a panic room?
Impeccable seven-bedroom stone/shingle home, newly built and meticulously constructed in 2020 by Kaali-Nagy, graces four maturely landscaped acres with pool site. Ideal spot to shelter in place with lots of space to roam yet close to top ranked schools, first-rate medical facilities offering top quality care and major highways. Be the first to live in this luxurious, well-scaled home perfect for comfortable living and entertaining. Affords gated, approved access only to a protected lane and natural wildlife sanctuary. One of only two remaining homes in this private three-home enclave set on 11 total, park-like acres featuring expansive properties in two-acre zones. Don't miss this rare opportunity to buy at an amazing, competitive price with no future projects planned.
(Should we warn the buyer that the “wildlife sanctuary”mentioned is in fact a 1/2-acre swamp, home to Nile Fever- hosting mosquitos and rabid raccoons? Or that the lush lawns are dripping with Lyme* disease? Nah, they’ll figure that out for themselves.)
*I forget: can we still name diseases after their town/country of origin, or is that racist?
UPDATE: Good Lord, Holden has pointed out this bit of virtual-landscaping — I realize that the commission on a $7-million sale is contemptibly insignificant, but surely professional pride would prod you to do better?
Sold
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22 Cornelia Drive, $6.250 million. 323 days on market, started at $6.8. The sellers paid $6.4 for it in 2012 after it had been on the market for just 10 days.
Leaving aside the money they put into it during their ownership, they pretty much broke even on the deal (with transaction costs, figure $400,000 loss), so that’s encouraging, sort-of.
Sales activity
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80 Doubling Road
80 Doubling Road, currently priced at $3.5 million, reports a contract. Newish (2005) construction, one-acre, good street, sounds reasonable. It did take a while to get to the “sounds reasonable” category, though — it began at $4.495 709 days ago.
15 Grossett Road
And an 0.7-acre building lot at 15 Grossett Road in Riverside has sold for $2.050, after opening at $2.695.
I mention this only because it provides a snapshot of current land values in the neighborhood. Similarly, 14 Hidden Brook, 0.26 acre, a stone’s throw away but in the R-12 vs R-20 zone, with Willow Road between them marking the divide, is pending with an asking price of $1,299. According to brother Gideon, whose listing it is, it received multiple offers and will be going for above-ask.
Grab your walker and head west, old man/woman/being, and play ball — it's our turn now!
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California sports teams unite to support Proposition 16. Prop 16 will repeal the current law of the land in the Golden Shower State and will now permit discrimination according to race, sex and national origin.
On Wednesday, a coalition of seven Bay Area professional sports teams unite in support of Proposition 16, lending their star power to rally voters this fall. The Golden State Warriors, San Francisco Giants, San Francisco 49ers, Oakland A's, San Jose Sharks, San Jose Earthquakes, and Oakland Roots announced their endorsement of the statewide ballot measure to restore California's equal opportunity programs like affirmative action, and to combat systemic discrimination in public contracting, employment, and education.
"With Proposition 16 coming before voters this November, equal opportunity and justice are on the ballot," said Rick Welts, President and Chief Operating Officer of the Golden State Warriors. "If we're going to live up to our reputation as a golden state with golden opportunities, we can and should do more to remove the systemic barriers that shut out Californians from a shot at a better life. Prop 16 is crucial to creating a stronger economic future for women and communities of color, and greater economic prosperity for California as whole."
"The San Francisco 49ers organization is proud to support Proposition 16 to ensure that California can truly tap into its diverse talent," said Al Guido, President of the San Francisco 49ers. "The road to equality and equity has been long and exhausting for so many but our organization is determined to push for meaningful action in the direction of progress – supporting Prop 16 is a necessary step to break down systemic racial barriers and level the playing field for all Californians. There is no doubt that a more inclusive California can and will be a stronger California, for all."
“First to go will be ableist scouting work-outs”, Father Guido told FWIW, “but that’s just the beginning. We’re going for full representation by percentage here; Asians comprise 15% of California’s population? Bring in the Japs! Nine-percent homeless drug addicts? They’ll have a home with us. Average weight and height of males 5’9 and 220 pounds? Move over on the bench there, fella. Of course”, he continued, “we’ll be able to combine some categories, like, if you got a gay Chinese dwarf transgender, kachink kachink kachink! Hell, we can probably get Colin Kaepernick back into the game under some sort of retard quota, who knows? Whatever, you’ll see a complete transformation of professional sports here, and you’re gonna love it.”
Home is the fisherman, home from the sea
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Great day off Portland today: fish, seals, dolphins (no great whites seen), grand blue sky and a nice breeze, but back to work.
The curiosity of the day is 460 North Street, placed on the market at $10.995 million. That’s probably a good price – it sold for $7,987,250 in 2012 (after languishing since 2008, when David Ogilvy initially priced it at $11.950), but just three years ago, asking $20 million, some chump — this owner — paid $22 million.
It’s true that a fool and his money are soon parted, but this much, this soon, is surprising.
I blame the press – and Facebook
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Ignorance of Covid-19 risks is “nothing short of stunning”, research report says.
Americans have been “blinded from science,” according to a recent research report about their understanding of COVID-19. And it’s not about the controversial aspects like treatments and lockdown policies. It’s about ignorance of fundamental, undisputed facts on who is at risk.
A leading financial firm, Franklin Templeton, figured that people’s behavioral response to the pandemic will play a crucial role in shaping the economic recovery, so they teamed up with Gallup, the polling outfit, to find out what people know and don’t know.
“These results are nothing short of stunning,” concluded the firm. “Six months into this pandemic, Americans still dramatically misunderstand the risk of dying from COVID-19.”
On average, Americans believe that people aged 55 and older account for just over half of total COVID-19 deaths; the actual figure is 92%.
Americans believe that people aged 44 and younger account for about 30% of total deaths; the actual figure is 2.7%.
Americans overestimate the risk of death from COVID-19 for people aged 24 and younger by a factor of 50; and they think the risk for people aged 65 and older is half of what it actually is (40% vs 80%).
What’s perhaps most striking from the survey is the connection between age of the respondents and their misconception about the virus. The younger you are, the more likely it is that you don’t understand.
“The discrepancy with the actual mortality data is staggering: for people aged 18–24, the share of those worried about serious health consequences is 400 times higher than the share of total COVID deaths; for those age 25–34 it is 90 times higher,” says the report. “The chart below truly is worth a thousand words:”
