@0:50, 10/16/18

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1

U.S.

Among the Ruins of Mexico Beach Stands One House, Built ‘for the Big One’

By PATRICIA MAZZEI | Oct 14th 2018

Hurricane Michael wrecked every other beachfront house on the block, but one came through the storm nearly pristine, as if protected by grace. How did it survive?

HURRICANE MICHAEL (2018); REAL ESTATE AND HOUSING (RESIDENTIAL); WIND; GLOBAL WARMING 

The builders looked at the beach and walked the land. 

2

U.S.

White Woman Who Blocked Black Neighbor From Building Is Fired

By MELISSA GOMEZ | Oct 15th 2018

First she blocked his entry to the St. Louis building, demanding proof that he lived there. Then she followed him. And then the police showed up.

BLACKS; REAL ESTATE AND HOUSING (RESIDENTIAL); VIDEO RECORDINGS, DOWNLOADS AND STREAMING 

Proper action by the owners.

3 

World

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Announce She’s Pregnant

By ILIANA MAGRA and DANIEL VICTOR | Oct 15th 2018

The news came as the couple were beginning a tour of Australia and the South Pacific. The child is expected in the spring of 2019, Kensington Palace said.

CHILDREN AND CHILDHOOD 

They have the income.

Charles is very old.  This will be a difficult depression. 

4

U.S.

In Shifting Story, Saudi Arabia May Admit Dissident Journalist Was Killed

By GARDINER HARRIS, DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and EILEEN SULLIVAN | Oct 15th 2018

President Trump echoed the possibility that Jamal Khashoggi was victim to “rogue killers.” The explanation shields the Saudi crown prince, who has cast himself as a moderate.

UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 

Trump and his owner do not pass the laugh test.

5

World

Kenyans Say Chinese Investment Brings Racism and Discrimination

By JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN | Oct 15th 2018

Episodes involving discriminatory behavior by the region’s growing Chinese work force have unsettled many Kenyans, particularly at a time when their government seeks closer ties with China.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; DISCRIMINATION; BLACKS 

There can only be one Emperor for the Han, the natural aristocrats.

The rest of us are the wrong tribes.

6 

Obituaries

Paul G. Allen, Microsoft’s Co-Founder, Is Dead at 65

By STEVE LOHR | Oct 15th 2018

Mr. Allen and Bill Gates started the company in 1975, helping to usher in the personal computing revolution. He died after a recurrence of cancer.

DEATHS (OBITUARIES) 

Bill Gates was a business man who could cut code.

I would guess he was instrumental in the acquisition of QDOS:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/86-DOS

I understand it is an ugly story of early death and bankruptcy.

7

World

Jamal Khashoggi’s Disappearance: What We Know and Don’t Know

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK | Oct 15th 2018

The confusing case of the Saudi journalist has set off an international diplomatic storm and raised important questions, including some that cannot be answered yet.

UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; ASSASSINATIONS AND ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATIONS; POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT 

Salafi are not tolerant. 

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

8

U.S.

Elizabeth Warren’s DNA Results Put Trump on Defensive, but Also Raise Questions

By JONATHAN MARTIN | Oct 15th 2018

The Massachusetts Democrat, weighing a 2020 presidential run, rebuts President Trump’s mocking of her claims about her heritage, but the right and left remain skeptical

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2020; NATIVE AMERICANS 

She might win.

9

Style

A ‘Sugar Date’ Gone Sour

By KATHERINE ROSMAN | Oct 15th 2018

In the fuzzy space between jobs and relationships, there’s a lot that can go wrong.

YOUR-FEED-SELFCARE; WOMEN AND GIRLS 

Getting started in art is near impossible.

I could not stand the price.

10

Business Day

Sears, the Original Everything Store, Files for Bankruptcy

By MICHAEL CORKERY | Oct 14th 2018

The retail chain struggled to adapt to changes in how Americans shop and engaged in risky financial engineering, racking up big losses.

BANKRUPTCIES; SHUTDOWNS (INSTITUTIONAL); SHOPPING AND RETAIL; E-COMMERCE 

Death in retail is cheap and easy.

11

Arts

Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande Split Up: Your Monday Pop Culture Cheat Sheet

By ELEANOR STANFORD | Oct 15th 2018

What you need to know from today’s TV, music and movie news.

MOVIES; TELEVISION; POP AND ROCK MUSIC 

The Times does not know and neither do I.  

I turn the radio off often.  Tuning in other stations does not help.

12

Technology

M.I.T. Plans College for Artificial Intelligence, Backed by $1 Billion

By STEVE LOHR | Oct 15th 2018

The goal, said L. Rafael Reif, the president of M.I.T., is to educate “the bilinguals of the future.” Blackstone’s Steven A. Schwarzman is contributing $350 million.

COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES; ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 

Money is always useful.

A.I. is another school of fashion.

People are clever.  Machines do what they are told.

Tools help people be clever.

Clever is called a hack at M.I.T.

Machines do not hack.

13 

Travel

Can 18 Hours in the Air Be Bearable? Airlines Bet on Ultra-Long-Haul Flights

By ELAINE GLUSAC | Oct 15th 2018

Singapore Airlines now flies more than 9,500 miles between Newark and Singapore, and more super-long routes are in the offing, with new amenities to ease the pain.

AIRLINES AND AIRPLANES 

Direct flights have worked in the past.

These could be considered cruising.

The business model cannot be a long distance bus ride.

14

U.S.

He’s ‘One of Us’: The Undying Bond Between the Bible Belt and Trump

By MAGGIE HABERMAN | Oct 14th 2018

Although President Trump often paints a rosy picture of his national support, his descriptions of mutual love with voters in parts of the South match reality.

UNITED STATES POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT; POLLS AND PUBLIC OPINION; VOTING AND VOTERS 

Trump is not a pastor.

Religion will not save his believers.

That way lies civil war.

15 

Health

Harvard Calls for Retraction of Dozens of Studies by Noted Cardiologist

By GINA KOLATA | Oct 15th 2018

Some 31 studies by Dr. Piero Anversa contain fabricated or falsified data, officials concluded. Dr. Anversa popularized the idea of stem cell treatment for damaged hearts.

STEM CELLS; HEART; FALSIFICATION OF DATA; RESEARCH 

Harvard is not magic.

It is an academic community dedicated to the creation of leadership and truth.  

16

New York

The Case of Jane Doe Ponytail

Oct 11th 2018

She moved to Flushing, Queens, with dreams of success and citizenship. Now she was crumpled outside a massage parlor on 40th Road, her blood pooling on the pavement she had so often worked.

I don't want to know "how the other half lives".
Literature is full of this unchanging story.

17

Opinion

The Senate: Affirmative Action for White People

By DAVID LEONHARDT | Oct 14th 2018

And why it’s time to make Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., the 51st and 52nd states.

BLACKS; STATES (US); UNITED STATES POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT; RACE AND ETHNICITY; ASIAN-AMERICANS 

It is racist. 

It is not racist enough for many. 

"There aint no justice"

18

Sunday Review

Is Trump on a Collision Course With Impeachment?

By PETER BAKER | Oct 13th 2018

Democrats are largely ducking the topic on the campaign trail, but few people in Washington doubt that it will be on the table if they win the House.

UNITED STATES POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT; MIDTERM ELECTIONS (2018) 

Impeachment is not conviction.

The Democrats should get subpoena power.

Constant investigation and publication may stop Trump and his allies.

"Dirty deeds are done in the dark"

19

World

For Khashoggi, a Tangled Mix of Royal Service and Islamist Sympathies

By BEN HUBBARD and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK | Oct 14th 2018

Jamal Khashoggi had both an affinity for Islamist political movements and close ties to the Saudi royal family — until they were cut by a new crown prince.

UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; MURDERS, ATTEMPTED MURDERS AND HOMICIDES 

The political murder may change things.

https://www.juancole.com/2018/10/arabia-dissident-journalist.html

More civil war.

20 

Well

Advice From a Formerly Lonely College Student

By EMERY BERGMANN | Oct 9th 2018

Last fall, I made a viral video about having trouble making friends. Here’s what I’ve learned.

COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES; FRIENDSHIP 

Everyone starts as an addict of some kind.  

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070509/

More later if you wish.

@23:48, 10/15/18

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1
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/14/technology/jeff-hawkins-brain-research.html

Intelligent programmers write responsive code.
It has a limited ability to learn.
Programmers are not infinitely wise.

"Idiot proof machines are impossible.
        Idiots are too smart."

People do things that the maddest programmers do not anticipate.
         " First turn on your machine."
                          "It needs sex?"

    I do not want a machine to love me or to know who to call when I am tired, depressed or hungry. 
A machine is not curious about anything.  It is, at best, analytical.

A machine can never care.

Jeff Hawkins is looking at the hardware.  People build models of situations.

2
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/opinion/trump-climate-change-deniers-republican.html

Paul Krugman is a careful observer.

@8:30, 10/15/18

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1
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/14/us/hurricane-michael-florida-mexico-beach-house.html

It is known how to build for storms.
Building for permanent immersion in a surf zone is another problem.
Getting above it all is traditional. 
Amusement piers last until an unanticipated event.
It could be rust, ship worms or scour.

2
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/science/gedmatch-genealogy-cold-cases.html

Information has value.  It can confirm or fail to confirm theories.
Evolution by means of natural selection is a confirmed theory.
Eugenics is not confirmed.
Racism would probably not be confirmed but will be tested.
I do not see how to avoid tests of racism.

Such a database could begin to test astrology. 

3
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/column-this-is-what-happens-when-you-take-ayn-rand-seriously

Rand is inherently meritocratic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meritocracy
Meritocracy quickly degenerates to aristocracy.

4
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/15/turkey-jamal-khashoggi-granted-permission-search-saudi-arabia-consulate-istanbul

"Donald Trump says 'rogue killers' may have murdered Khashoggi

US president speculates over journalist’s presumed death after speaking to Saudi king"

This is a silly lie.  The consulate is intact.  

5
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/technology/myanmar-facebook-genocide.html

I would like to see the authenticated orders.
Nothing less would quiet Trump believers.

6
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/us/politics/elizabeth-warren-dna-ancestry.html

The Trump slander will endure.

7
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/science/drought-beer-climate.html

Homer Simpson may notice.

8
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/climate/trump-climate-change-fact-check.html


"‘I Don’t Know That It’s Man-Made,’ Trump Says of Climate Change. It Is."

That level of ignorance is frightening.

9
https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000006154922/fascism-leaders-america-trump.html

I wish the reference were to Romany or gays. 
Jews were first in this scholar's mind.

10
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane/_Collective

There is a bit of video in the Times.

1. Image

   U.S.

   Code Name Jane: The Women Behind a Covert Abortion Network

   In the years before abortion became legal, a clandestine group helped women with unwanted pregnancies get around the law.

   Oct. 14

2. Image

   U.S.

   Abortion Was Illegal. This Secret Group Defied the Law.

   In the years before Roe v. Wade, an underground group provided thousands of women with abortions.

Something to hold in mind these days.


11
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-bet-2












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@ 15:20, 10/14/18

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a
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/4-days-after-storm-large-swath-of-panhandle-suffering


https://www.apnews.com/tag/Hurricanes      not found.
Found with new browser.

https://www.apnews.com/410241fc44584337a8ef9b6eb295ad1c

https://www.apnews.com/d57191df83d14cf78cdba0b5677b29f3

Junk and filler.

Keep looking.

https://www.apnews.com/bacc45f2b72d448a8fe8791e92e8a402

Florida Panhandle building codes lagged behind rest of state

@9:30, 10/14/18

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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2018/oct/13/nightmare-on-downing-street-cartoon

1
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/13/opinion/nancy-pelosi-midterms-democrats-republicans.html

The editorial board knows but cannot speak.

2
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/13/business/jared-kushner-taxes.html

There is a problem with the tax system.

3
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/13/us/hurricane-michael-fema-search-rescue-florida.html

The Sovereign State of Florida is sometimes happy to be part of the Union.

More than air conditioning is needed to make a beach a place to live.

5
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/12/science/cats-v-rats-in-new-york-the-rats-win.html

There should be plague.

6
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/13/opinion/sunday/real-estate-housing-market-dream-home.html

Candace Jackson is wrong.

Her living requires her opinion.

I can design and build my studio.
I cannot design an house and barn.  
I need help.
Sooner is better.  
As soon as you can is best.

7
https://www.juancole.com/2018/10/activism-emisssions-dramatically.html

This should be a Times headline. 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/24/dutch-government-ordered-cut-carbon-emissions-landmark-ruling

"This article is over three years old."
         on the left sidebar.

"
“Before this judgement, the only legal obligations on states were those they agreed among themselves in international treaties,” said Dennis van Berkel, legal counsel for Urgenda, the group that brought the suit.
“This is the first a time a court has determined that states have an independent legal obligation towards their citizens. That must inform the reduction commitments in Paris because if it doesn’t, they can expect pressure from courts in their own jurisdictions.”
In what was the first climate liability suit brought under human rights and tort law, Judge Hans Hofhuis told the court that the threat posed by global warming was severe and acknowledged by the Dutch government in international pacts.
“The state should not hide behind the argument that the solution to the global climate problem does not depend solely on Dutch efforts,” the judges’ ruling said. “Any reduction of emissions contributes to the prevention of dangerous climate change and as a developed country the Netherlands should take the lead in this.”"

Here is the backstory  of the Republican and Trump position on international law.

It is no wonder the reactionaries are up in arms.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/up_in_arms

Petroleum and coal should be heavily taxed as they come out of the ground or across the U.S. border.
All the multitude of forms of fossil carbon should be taxed proportionately.


8
Paul Krugman‏Verified account @paulkrugman

Paul Krugman Retweeted Jake Tapper

The idea that climate policies would "destroy our economy" is disinformation spread by fossil-fuel interests and right-wingers. No serious analyses suggest that a carbon tax or equivalent would wreak havoc 1/

@jaketapper

In 20 years what are you going to be able to say to your children or my children about the three steps you took to mitigate v climate change?

 Rubio: “we’re going to have to do something about the impact on low-level coast areas...but I’m also not going to destroy our economy.”

6:09 AM - 14 Oct 2018

Cities do better than suburbs but not so well as subsistence farming.
I do not love laboring.

9
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/14/northern-ireland-hard-brexit-hard-border-owen-paterson

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/oct/14/nicola-sturgeon-touts-common-sense-brexit-alternative 

Joining the E.U. was a bad idea.

Leaving the E.U. is a worse idea.

The E.U. would not have it any other way and said so.

10

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland#Economic_boom_and_crisis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E2%80%932011_Icelandic_financial_crisis


11

https://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2018/10/sacramento-housing-in-september-sales.html

Sales are down and inventory is up.

The developers have gotten their numbers wrong again.
It is not yet a bust but the clock is running.

I speculate that the commute is too long.
High speed rail would help.
There would need to be "subways" at both ends.
The boring company will be tried.
Elon Musk is hitting political and physical problems.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk

I admire him.
He has made it work so far.
 
12
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/13/opinion/sunday/saudi-arabia-mbs-jamal-khashoggi.html

Nicholas Kristof has done his homework.

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

"If Saudi Arabia cannot show that Jamal is safe and sound, NATO countries should jointly expel Saudi ambassadors and suspend weapons sales. The United States should start an investigation under the Magnitsky Act and stand ready to impose sanctions on officials up to M.B.S.
America can also make clear to the Saudi royal family that it should find a new crown prince. A mad prince who murders a journalist, kidnaps a prime minister and starves millions of children should never be celebrated at state dinners, but instead belongs in a prison cell."

M.B.S. should lose his head.

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10/12/18

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1
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/12/princess-eugenie-cut-perks-monarchy-magic

Let the Tories have their flag.

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

It has been the  policy of rulers from ancient times.

The credit for these words appears to go to Mario Puzo

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sun_Tzu

2
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/12/melania-trump-abc-interview-husbands-alleged-affairs

The servants are watching and talking.

3
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/12/business/italy-debt-crisis-eu-brussels.html

There is competition for the bottom.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/12/opinion/liberals-trump-midterms-2020-election.html

Bret L. Stephens is an enthusiastic conservative.

|

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/12/opinion/pope-francis-donald-wuerl-abuse.html

I refuse to follow Vatican politics.

Francis seems to be making an effort.

|

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/13/climate/nordhaus-carbon-tax-interview.html

I am not hopeful.

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@14:00, 10/12/18

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1
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/

Always worth some attention.

2
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/us/elections/house-race-ratings.html

3
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/12/world/europe/turkey-us-pastor-andrew-brunson.html

Andrew Brunson is a duely convicted criminal under Turkish law.
His crime is the practice of his trade.

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

I expect the crown prince of Saudi to lose his head.

The game seems to be suppress the Shia.

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

Diplomats of all nations should understand religious war.

The U.S. has forgotten and China is learning again?

The Corps of Discovery did not include a missionary.

4

Tesla motors: $257.85 /share

Flat for the day.
The plunge protection team has been busy.

5

We seem to be coming up to a housing emergency.

It is not quite upon us.

Developers and other speculators will not sell at a price ordinary incomes  can pay.

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