Interesting Links for 18-09-2021

[andrewducker]

Why is the Scottish Ambulance Service in crisis?

(tags:scotland nhs healthcare doom )

Ruling limiting transgender children from access to puberty blockers overturned

(tags:lgbt transgender children GoodNews )

UK Equalities Minister Goes on Anti-LGBTQ Rant

(tags:uk equality lgbt bigotry Conservatives OhForFucksSake )

The *real* reason that The Fellowship couldn't use eagles to go to Mordor

(tags:lotr Lego funny video viaKalimac )

On Critical Race Theory

(tags:sociology society history racism race law viaDanielDWilliam )

How the pandemic destroyed the car rental market

(tags:cars rental pandemic Doom )

Sex was invented in Scotland

(tags:Scotland sex prehistory paleontology )

Comments

[anna_wing]

Ideologically-based science is bad news for whichever country is practicing it, as the unfortunate influence of Trofim Lysenko on the Soviet Union illustrates.

Last week's (4-10 Sept 2021) Economist observed that University of California life-sciences departments were rejecting faculty applicants on the basis of their diversity statements rather than their research. If that sort of thing catches on in the US, and given that a lot of the people in STEM research in the US aren't from the US anyway, this is going to be a really good recruiting opportunity for STEM departments elsewhere.

[dewline]

Are you equating Lysenko Doctrine with promotion of diversity within STEM departments at universities?

[anna_wing]

It would depend entirely on the longer-term effects of the policy on research output, which is what I was referring to. According to the article, the university in question was doing this in 2019, so it would be some years before any effect, both in the US and internationally, could reasonably be looked for, especially taking into account COVID-19 restrictions on international travel.

The article didn't say what criteria for increasing diversity the university was using (I understand that nearly 50% of STEM PhDs in the US go to non-US citizens, so there would be plenty of diversity by that metric), but there should be ways to do it that don't imitate the approach of Soviet or Maoist institutions, or indeed those places in the US that reportedly only hire faculty who conform to locally-acceptable ideas about the theory of evolution or mixed-race marriage. But obviously, universities have the right to make their own operational decisions.

[dewline]

1. That sounds horrifically familiar from other places. Ottawa's been irregularly dealing with periods of "level zero" ambulance availability over the last few years, pre-Pandemic.

2. Good news there!

3. Worrying.

6. Sounds similar to the taxi situation for related reasons.

Where Eagles Dare :

[mlknchz]

OK...
1 TOO many Eagles. They just need one eagle, not a raid
2 Why fly right over where the AAA is? there are many routes to Mt Doom. Frodo only used that route because
of the surrounding mountains
3 Why fly so low? This is the helicopter scene from the Skull Island film all over again.
4 Why not fly at night in Bomber Command fashion?

One eagle, one hobbit; it's JUST crazy enough to work. :)

Re: Where Eagles Dare :

[calimac]

1. Party needed more than one person. (Dropping the Ring in the mountain isn't a "oh just send one hobbit and hope it works" business.) When Gandalf rescued Frodo and Sam, he needed three eagles, so he wouldn't even have been riding on the same one as Frodo as the movie shows.

2. Limited range, especially with burden. Even Black Gate to Mount Doom and back again is really stretching it, judging by the Eagles' range in previous uses.

2a. Also, exactly what part of the mountains around northern Mordor were you expecting was not guarded?

2b. Especially if, as the movie implies, the Enemy were expecting this possibility?

3. They thought they were high enough. This is mentioned in the film.

3a. Also, Nazgul.

4. Favorite time for Nazgul.