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jlc

Total Points: 10,234
Location: Val Verde, CA
Landed: 11 years ago
Last Seen: 6 days, 18 hours ago


  • 1
    Posted by $ jlc 1 month, 2 weeks ago to So much for retirement(?)
    I am in agreement with mhub; I too have that experience in my background. I also do not intend to retire.

    I am in medical software: sold a company I co-founded to a bigger guy during Covid. Work is not so fun any more.

    Wm (ex-co-owner, also in Gulch) and I intend to start another company, with complexity added by the fact we now live 3K miles apart. Also by the fact that I intend to go back to school and get a PhD in Genetics (entry level quals) and seek work in that field.

    I talked to a fellow Med Tech a couple of months ago and she is unable to get a job that is not management. She wants to go and do bench work part-time, but when they see her resume, they only offer her management positions. So that is happening in another field than engineering.

    I am 71. The major input I can add to this conversation is that I reasonably expect to be able to work for another 20 years. (I can still do quasi-full-contact Medieval broadsword fighting against all types of opponents, which I did not expect I would be able to do at my current age, when I thought ahead, 40 years ago.)

    I really like the feeling of 'stretching the universe' with the work that I do and do not want to consign myself to the rocking chair.

    Jan

  • 2
    Posted by $ jlc 1 month, 4 weeks ago to IN THE MEME TYME 1/29/24 EDITION: Remember the Alamo!
    Nope. Using my loyal laptop, as per usual. I will reboot and try again. I just needed to know if the problem was "me" or "elsewhere".

    Thanks.

  • 3
    Posted by $ jlc 1 month, 4 weeks ago to IN THE MEME TYME 1/29/24 EDITION: Remember the Alamo!
    I cannot link to any of the images this morning. Does anyone else have this problem?

    Jan

  • 4
    Posted by $ jlc 2 months ago to TGIFfunnies 1/26/24 EDITION: Healthcare?!
    The last one is actually true.

    Jan

  • 5
    Posted by $ jlc 3 months, 2 weeks ago to TGIFfunnies 12/15/23 EDITION: Say WHAT?
    Good Dog! (NO Scream)

  • 6
    Posted by $ jlc 4 months, 2 weeks ago to TGIFfunnies 11/10/23 EDITION: All My Ex's
    I have sent "Spaghetti will make you Dance" on to several other people.

    Thank you for the fun!

  • 7
    Posted by $ jlc 7 months, 1 week ago to TGIFfunnies 8/18/23 EDITION Hyperspace/Aliens/Songs from the wood and HD 2X4s
    These are all good! Many truths to laugh at.

  • 8
    Posted by $ jlc 7 months, 3 weeks ago to IN THE MEME TYME 8/7/23 EDITION To make a Short Story Long . . .
    The conspiracy theorists vs normal people flying saucer gave me a good Monday Morning Laugh.

  • 9
    Posted by $ jlc 10 months, 1 week ago to TGIFfunnies 5/26/23 EDITION: Cultural Chaos
    There are a couple of really good ones there: neckpillow and burn a tire both got me laughing.

    Jan

  • 10
    Posted by $ jlc 10 months, 2 weeks ago to IN THE MEME TYME 5/15/23 EDITION: Tail of Two Queens
    Love the T-road!

  • 11
    Posted by $ jlc 10 months, 3 weeks ago to [Ask the Gulch] I am wondering why we must have a driver's license to operate an automobile on a public road? I think this is a violation of the Constitution. Oh, well. No wonder THEY can make us get a license. Horses and Buggys weren't required to have a license
    Drivers' licenses were not required - back in my father's time. When did they start being required?

    On the other hand, there was a brief push in CA, back in the 1970s, to make people register their horses and get a 'rider license'. I recall pictures with a paper license plate tied to the top of a horse's tail. No one did it, and the attempt died quickly.

    I think it is a rebuttable premise that there would be poorer driving and more accidents without licensing than there is with it. Does anyone have data on this?

    Jan

  • 12
    Posted by $ jlc 11 months, 3 weeks ago to The last memes from me.
    The memes are the only interaction I have with the Gulch. Thank you for posting them - I often forget to Like, so my reading them is not part of your statistics. My apologies: your work is indeed appreciated.
    The Gulch has gone from being a site dedicated to individualism, to being a pretty conventional, conservative venue that has little to do with Rand's philosophy but which is deep in conspiracy theories.
    The memes are the element of lightness that gives me a reason to have not departed entirely.

  • 13
    Posted by $ jlc 1 year, 10 months ago to Has anyone actually read Rand's works? Seems like everyone on here is anti-big business and anti-abortion, but Rand believed in big business and abortion up until birth. (Not saying I agree with her.)
    Rand believed in the individual too, but most of the threads and comments thereon, for the last several years, have been anti-individual.

    I too have been watching this happen.

    Jan

  • 14
    Posted by $ jlc 3 years, 1 month ago to Epidemic of memes
    Masks work. I have worn them intermittently in the hospital, either drawing blood from people who were contagious with 'stuff you really did not want to get' or when drawing blood from people who were very uncompromising and who would catch anything from you, were you not masked. Masks work. We have worn them in medical situations for a century, and they are effective. When you or a friend has surgery and it turns out well, one of the inanimate objects you should thank is the mask.

    Jan

  • 15
    Posted by $ jlc 3 years, 1 month ago to Epidemic of memes
    Actually, if a child dies of unknown causes up to 2 years after receiving a vaccination, the vaccination IS considered to be the default cause. There is not even any comparison to the death rate of similar age group in un-vaccinated populations. This has led to an inflation of the deaths attributed to vaccination.

    Jan

  • 16
    Posted by $ jlc 3 years, 1 month ago to What do Women think of Men competing in Women’s sports?
    My reply was a technical reply. I certainly do not have any problems with a man having a uterus implanted, but my point was that you do not need to have a uterus in order to carry a child to term. The blastocyst in the woman, who had had a hysterectomy, implanted on the outside of the colon (I think) and formed a placenta there. It had to be a c-section delivery in that case, because there was no uterus. So the simplest case of 'a man bearing a child' does not necessarily involve an implanted uterus.

    I would assume that at least some individual trans-males would compete in male sports. The two women I can think of who I know who converted to being male definitely had an aversion to being macho and had no interest that I know of in sports.

    When I talked with one of them, they said that they did not want to make all the mistakes that men did about being male. They liked the 'trans' part of being trans-male, not just the 'male' part.

    Jan

  • 17
    Posted by $ jlc 3 years, 1 month ago to What do Women think of Men competing in Women’s sports?
    But there is no reason a man has to even be permanently trans in order to do that. You might have to alter his hormones for the duration of the pregnancy, and the delivery would be by C-section, but there are reports of ectopic pregnancies where the blastocyst implanted itself on the peritoneal side of the gut (I think it was the colon) and formed a placenta. This occurred in about 2000 and it was a woman who had had a complete hysterectomy.

    So you could theoretically have a man who had taken hormone shots for a year, deliver a baby, but otherwise be totally masculine.

    Jan

  • 18
    Posted by $ jlc 3 years, 1 month ago to What do Women think of Men competing in Women’s sports?
    This is the sort of question that we should consider. Our insights from this can inform how sports in general should work.

    Another corner case is high altitude. Is it fair to hold competitions at high altitudes, where Andean and Himalayan athletes will have the advantage? Or hold them at lower altitudes, where they will not?

    It all comes down to having a sport that is geared for one particular type of exertion, and having a genetic sub-population that is 'good at that'. Our concept of 'fair sports' is based on a village green, where people of the same genetic background are playing against each other.

    Jan

  • 19
    Posted by $ jlc 3 years, 1 month ago to What do Women think of Men competing in Women’s sports?
    It is possible to go down that path, but I would like to hear opinion on what to do if most/all of the contenders in a particular sport are black or even Kalinjin, as I think that might inform our perspective.

    Is it fair for a white male to compete if he knows he can never win, but unfair for a woman to compete if she knows she can never win? Is it fair for a black woman or man to compete if there is a Kalinjin in the race and they know they will not win?

    Jan

  • 20
    Posted by $ jlc 3 years, 1 month ago to What do Women think of Men competing in Women’s sports?
    There are probably lots of places where women have an advantage; some of these are yet to be discovered. Some that come to mind is being a jockey, fighter pilot, or astronaut. These are all endeavors where women have been categorically eliminated - but note that only one is a sport. Bullfighting is another sport where women could do well - the difference between the strength of a woman and a man pales in comparison to the strength of a bull.

    The most puzzling sports where women have traditionally failed to excel (or just been disqualified) are racecar drivers and pilots.

    We are doing well, overall, at eliminating the artificial barriers, but it will probably take a few more generations before we throw off the liabilities of social conditioning and see what women can actually do physically.

    Jan

  • 21
    Posted by $ jlc 3 years, 1 month ago to What do Women think of Men competing in Women’s sports?
    What do you mean "women will never win"? Brigid Kosgei ran faster than 45,933 people. Presumably, at least some of those were men...

    The winners of >70% of the marathons iin the world are generally from the Kalinjin tribe in Kenya. By your logic, there should then be a 'blacks only' marathon, or maybe even a Kalinjin-only marathon.

    Jan

  • 22
    Posted by $ jlc 3 years, 1 month ago to What do Women think of Men competing in Women’s sports?
    I agree with Thoritsu. I am a woman, and I have competed against men (sometimes very strong men) in martial arts for over 40 years. Yes,most men are stronger than most women, but some women are stronger than some men - and some men are stronger than most other men.

    The sport I compete in is quasi-full-contact. You strike blows that are strong enough to dent 14 gauge stainless steel, but men who are stronger than that have to hold back and cannot use their full strength. There are also rules that keep a bigger person from simply punting his opponent out of the arena.

    Skill counts. I can take many guys who are a lot stronger than I am. I do not have to worry about whether my opponent is trans or male or female - I just try to win the fight.

    So no, not only does this not 'frost' me, but it is a step in the right direction. If you really want to separate out categories of competition, then do so by a non-gender-based category, such as is used in boxing, ie 'welterweight'; you could even include the strength differential on an individual basis and sort people into categories based on muscle density, which would automatically sort the Y-chromosome trans into higher competitive levels while their therapy was still taking effect, but into lower ones after they had fully transitioned.

    The idea that 'all men are stronger than all women' is Victorian and inaccurate. We need to move away from that. It is also good psychologically for women to compete in sports against men, and win or lose depending on their individual skills and abilities.

    Jan

  • 23
    Posted by $ jlc 3 years, 3 months ago to IN THE MEME TYME: Things That'll Make You LOL Edition, because things have gotten way too serious lately.
    Thank you for posting this. I have missed them (but then, I may just have missed some).

    I sent the Volcano one on to some friends.

    Jan

  • 24
    Posted by $ jlc 3 years, 6 months ago to IN THE MEME TYME: October Surprise Edition and getting ahead of the SCOTUS Nominee vetting process.
    Thank you again. I sent 2 of these on to friends who needed cheering up.

    Jan

  • 25
    Posted by $ jlc 3 years, 6 months ago to The Military's Secret to Fighting COVID-19[84]
    A very similar article (a lot of the same wording) in the Washington Examiner cited further precautions being taken by the military:

    "But that only partly accounts for the dramatic difference in outcomes, especially if you consider that the Pentagon’s comparative success did not require any major disruptions in worldwide operations.

    “We've placed tough restrictions on our people — all to protect the force and all to preserve our mission readiness,” said Defense Secretary Mark Esper at a recent virtual town hall for DOD workers worldwide.

    While many have questioned the efficacy of masks and have begun to consider social distancing guidelines excessive, the Pentagon has doubled down on safety measures that have proven demonstrably effective in slowing the spread of the virus.

    Over the course of three weeks in March, as the threat of the COVID-19 became clear, Esper ordered that Pentagon workers maintain 6 feet of social distancing, allowed anyone who could to telecommute, issued a 60-day stop-movement order restricting travel, imposed self-isolation quarantines for anyone who had potentially been exposed to the virus or who was returning to the U.S., and mandated face coverings at all times for anyone who could not maintain social distancing while outside their homes.

    “We've been very successful. Our numbers relative to the broader population, or relative to any other population, have been very good,” Esper said. “Tragic for those who have lost folks or who have been hospitalized, but those numbers are far, far lower because of the measures we've taken.”

    The Pentagon has taken extraordinary steps to keep the U.S. missions worldwide on track while dealing with a virus-stricken aircraft carrier that was sidelined and pausing basic recruit training to adopt new safety protocols.

    “There seems to be this narrative out there that we should just shut down the entire U.S. military and address the problem that way. That's not feasible,” Esper said at a White House coronavirus task force briefing April 1.

    “The world is a big world. There's a lot of things out there that are not necessarily in the United States’s interests that happen every single day, from terrorists to Russia to China to Iran and North Korea and all kinds of other threats and challenges that are out there,” said Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, addressing the virtual town hall. “We have to operate within a COVID-19 environment.”

    The sometimes onerous restrictions, especially a worldwide ban on travel, imposed real hardships on military families, many of whom have been frozen in place for months, unable to move to their next assignments or do simple things like sell their houses.

    “It's all about protecting our force, our people,” said Esper. “I know for some, it may seem like we're being too cautious, and for other folks, it seems too risky.”

    But Esper is warning that the new normal will be different, at least for a while, from the old normal — based on the lessons learned from the pandemic.

    Late last month, Esper visited Parris Island to observe Marine Corps basic training under the new coronavirus guidelines.
    “I noticed as they were going through the training, they were appropriately socially distanced when it made sense. And at all times, they wore face covering,” he said.

    But what Esper found most interesting is that the measures designed to prevent the coronavirus's spread were also preventing the spread of other respiratory tract infections.

    “They've seen sick call go down remarkably across the board, and they've seen a higher number of recruits available for training day in and day out,” he said. “So there is good coming out of this, lessons learned, I think, that will make us even more effective and better well into the future.”