General discussion - public

[Crackington]

I think that's a fair point @stargatedalek  as I fear that Emily Willoughby has not really changed her pro-eugenics views:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RationalWiki

I realise that this website may have it's own bias, but it raises serious questions about her behaviour and connections to key individuals who still promote eugenics now.

I was also concerned to see references to a London conference on eugenics held at UCL but without their knowledge, pretending to be about something else. The article states that she was defending this conference this year!

This is doubly galling to me as a university worker in London as UCL is at least trying to address this murky part of its history and held an in depth inquiry into it recently. Here's a link to the report and website:

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/provost/inquiry-history-eugenics-ucl

I found the appendices to the report particularly chilling - if people want to see the insidious effect this "scientific" movement had.

[dinofelid]

I think that's a fair point @stargatedalek  as I fear that Emily Willoughby has not really changed her pro-eugenics views:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RationalWiki

I realise that this website may have it's own bias, but it raises serious questions about her behaviour and connections to key individuals who still promote eugenics now.

Looks like you linked to the main rationalwiki site rather than the specific article on her, which is at https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Emily_Willoughby -- it seems from this article there is a lot more to the story than just her current research on  the heritability of IQ and the fact that she once commissioned an art piece of velociraptors in Nazi uniforms, for example they link to this twitter thread indicating that she had a long history of editing wikipedia articles to put in pro "scientific racism" sources, see this edit for example, and she was eventually banned from editing articles relating to race and intelligence. The rationalwiki article also links to another tweet showing her friendly banter on twitter with people well-known online for advocating scientific racism, who have their own rationalwiki articles:

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Hbdchick

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Emil_O._W._Kirkegaard

[Halichoeres]

D @dinofelid you're right it was on heritability, I was going from my slightly fuzzy memory. Obviously I agree with Lewontin on the impossibility of generalizing to groups from individual-level heritability estimates. That's leaving aside the fact that estimates of heritability can only the absolute maximum of genetic contribution, because there are aspects of environment that are impossible to control for even in twin studies. And also leaving aside the fact that there is a big obvious constituency for this sort of study, and I'll tell you it mostly isn't geneticists, as Willoughby's online acquaintances can show you.

[Faelrin]

Saw Avatar Way of the Water tonight. Long wait for this one but worth it I think.

Couple of prehistoric looking creatures in the film to keep an eye out for:

Spoiler

Big alien fish with three mouthparts gave me Dunkleosteus vibes (closed mouth). There were some cute little conodont looking fish as well. A small flying creature looked like a small pterosaur, and of course can't forget one of the focus creatures that looked like a plesiosaur.

[close]

I'll write more tomorrow. Having some sinus pain and going to bed early. Got an appointment tomorrow anyways.

[EmperorDinobot]

Yes. Covid is very much still a problem. I do not understand why it became a political issue. We have to keep wearing masks, washing hands and limiting exposure. I still need to get the bivalent, But I have been extremely busy. I spend time here, sure, looks like I am here all the time, but I have been in and out of hospitals and surrounded by illness and death for the last few months.


Now my sister is in the hospital. She is on oxygen and because of this she greenhouse gassed herself, and has a collapsed lung. But she is getting better and she'll be back here soon. I should have been more stern with her about using the bipap machine, but she hates it.

I'm so very tired of this all.

[Faelrin]

Just wanted to let folks know my father is going in for the second part of his heart surgery tomorrow morning, and the more major one. He recently had a pacemaker/defibrillator put in mid December, and now this one will entail closing valves in his heart, and from here on he will be dependent on the device. I'm feeling really anxious about all of this. Like if he might pass on the table anxious. All of this is because of his progressively worsening congestive heart failure.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Just wanted to let folks know my father is going in for the second part of his heart surgery tomorrow morning, and the more major one. He recently had a pacemaker/defibrillator put in mid December, and now this one will entail closing valves in his heart, and from here on he will be dependent on the device. I'm feeling really anxious about all of this. Like if he might pass on the table anxious. All of this is because of his progressively worsening congestive heart failure.

I'm sorry to hear that, my dad is on the verge of needing a pacemaker and it scares him. They have already shocked parts of his heart at least that's how he describes it, to get it back into rhythm. I hope all goes well for your dad.

[Faelrin]

@Blade-of-the-Moon Thanks for the well wishes. My dad ended up with a large painful bruise after having his put in. Loads of restrictions come with it too from what I understand. No driving, lifting of that arm, etc. My dad's only 62 as well (I'm 31, and his oldest).

His already gave his heart a zap once from what he told me, but said it wasn't too painful, but again his is a defibrillator.

I hope everything goes well for your father if/when has that procedure done too.

Edit: He does find it uncomfortable as well, but that may be from it just recently put in. Forgot to mention this earlier.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

@Blade-of-the-Moon Thanks for the well wishes. My dad ended up with a large painful bruise after having his put in. Loads of restrictions come with it too from what I understand. No driving, lifting of that arm, etc. My dad's only 62 as well (I'm 31, and his oldest).

His already gave his heart a zap once from what he told me, but said it wasn't too painful, but again his is a defibrillator.

I hope everything goes well for your father if/when has that procedure done too.

Edit: He does find it uncomfortable as well, but that may be from it just recently put in. Forgot to mention this earlier.

Thank you. I don't know how he would get by with those restrictions. He lives alone in a small crummy apartment. Generally drives himself everywhere except to the VA for his appointments. I hate to say it but I'm not really sure how old he is, I'm thinking late 60's almost 70. I just turned 40 in November. My younger brother has been gone for just over a year now, my mom passed in 98'.  They are continuing testing. He originally almost had his heart stop from too much fluid built up on it, he's had to watch his salt intake and keep up with a score of meds. There isn't a lot I can do besides get his mail, some food, we live a bit away from each other. I know they won't even consider a heart replacement for his age, just like new kidneys for my grandfather a few years ago. I don't even pretend to understand every aspect. I'm not religious, the best I can do is just hope things work out for as long as they can. I hope your dad is getting the best care he can too, I know that matters a lot.

[Faelrin]

@Blade-of-the-Moon Thanks for sharing. I really hope things can improve for your father. Sorry to hear about your lost family as well. My father also gets care through the VA (which is also covering this procedure), and has been on the regimen of meds for a while as well. A heart replacement wasn't an option for my father either. He was told his heart needed to be in even worse shape, which with the long waiting lists, I'm not sure that's such a good idea?

Anyways it's morning now, and he's already there. I'll update on the situation when I can.

[Halichoeres]

Fingers crossed for your dad, @Faelrin! Yours too, @Blade-of-the-Moon

[Faelrin]

Great news. Just caught him on the phone with my mom as I was going to the bathroom. He's coming home soon. Procedure went well. I was so so worried this morning about how it would have gone.

@Halichoeres Thanks for the well wishes too.

[Concavenator]

@Blade-of-the-Moon My best wishes for your dad.

@Faelrin Glad it went well, I hope he's fine.

[ceratopsian]

Good news indeed, @Faelrin.

[Halichoeres]

So glad to hear it!

[CityRaptor]

I was looking up a particular quote from Jurassic Park and came upon these articles:
https://www.techtimes.com/articles/247407/20200217/debunked-dinosaur-theory-nope-jurassic-park-dinosaurs-dont-have-cold-blooded-bodies-study.htm
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/17/world/dinosaurs-eggs-blood-warm-scn/index.html

Yeah, totally ignore the famous Brachiosaurus scene.

[Samrukia]

sorry but i need to vent:
some people are not impressed by a newly released figure, i get it. but i think that giving ratings (dinotoycollector) based on pictures is ridiculous.
it's been only 2-3 days since this figure was announced

[Stegotyranno420]

Found out today is probably the 3776th anniversary of the founding of Rome, Italy.
Glory to Rome! 

[Faelrin]

Hope anyone here effected by the wildfires in Canada stay safe, and that goes for all living in harm's way of the smog as well. It is so surreal seeing the sky here with an orange haze, and getting warnings out here about seriously bad air quality (and I'm in south central PA).

At least my family is finished packing which will reduce our exposure to the air.

[postsaurischian]

Wow some of the people in here are being more toxic than these figures themselves. Like oh my gosh I was trying to catch up on the current state of the matter and instead I see people just being assholes to each other. My goodness 

This has been the low of this discussion so far. Thank you everyone for returning to a more rational and factual way of discussing things.

 Gasp! I must have missed that.
 I have seen members (me included) banned for less.