In this 20 August edition, a wealth of data analysis papers, with many highly informative graphs. A call for China to better balance recognition for its junior scientists, another call for (US?) universities to treat bullying complaints in-depth rather than as a public relation exercise. The “compulsory” current status of the Trump 2.0 wreckage of US science with the Senate blocking the appointment of politicians for grant reviews. And with the absurd, ungrounded, health threatening split of the MMR vaccine. 
Another “compulsory” entry on climate change with a scary graph on the ocean surface temperatures rising way way above the confidence band represented by the previous measurements over 50 years. An interview (why?) of a CEO of the startup QED Science that claims an ability to automatically rank preprints and select the top 1% (why?!). Coïnciding with me receiving an email with a review by Claude of our Bayesian Adversarial Privacy paper! A report on the (defunct Starmer) UK Government cutting on fundamental physics projects. An article featuring the predicted rise in the use of exoskeletons, which I read on my way back from the lodge on Mount Fudji that was renting an exoskeleton to help with the climb! With an optimistic view on the consequences on people’s health and muscles. A short book review on Slobodian’s and Tarnoff’s Muskism, concluding that Musk(ism) lacks a coherent philosophy. (A Musk-read according to the Economist!) A long comment on the sleepless summer of the heatwaves, which led me clearly more tired than usual at the end of the summer break. (With a lot of should. And a focus on methodology.) Another one on the Middle East prospects as a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) hub, which sounds paradoxical in the current geopolitic situation. It made me wonder how sustainable are these SAFs? True, they recycle oils, gases and biomass, rather than extracting “new” oils, but they still pollute the air. And, true, they can fill empty returning tankers, but they divert investment and research from more renewable and less polluting alternatives. Among the actual scientific articles, a long review on the safety and security of LLMs in healthcare (but useless pictures). 
One on the massive floods that occurred in Europe in 1342-1343, possibly caused by volcanic eruptions plus Arctic sea ice retreat, nothing that could occur today of course! With massive socio-economic consequences. (And a great graph, except I do not see the point for the 2D projections. Or for modern state borders.) 
An analysis of intergenerational mobility in Europe with the unsurprising conclusion that it impacts innovation. (Go, Erasmus!) With a multivariate regression I did not investigate (using NUTS but not Andrew’s NUTS!). And graphs of intergenerational mobility per European country, with too many colours to be readable (and the regression line to make sense?). Another data analysis of the Pakistan Genome Resource, with distinctive traits of the many ethnicities of Pakistan. And the discovery of many clinically relevant genes (with a massive avalanche of p-values!).
Archive for Elon Musk
and it got worse & worse & … [verbatim]
Posted in Books, Kids, pictures, Travel with tags Agent Orange, America, autoritarian, baby Trump, Canada, Charlie Kirk, cliffs, conspiracy theories, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, English nationalism, far-right ideology, gun control, gun lobby, House of Representatives, humanism, ice, international day against homophobia transphobia & biphobia, nationalism, Nuremberg trials, political violence, populism, quotes, racism, secularism, separation between church and state, The Atlantic, The Guardian, The New York Times, theocracy, United Kingdom, US Constitution, US elections 2024, US politics, USAid, Utah, Utah State University, Utah Valley University on September 23, 2025 by xi'an
“For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals. This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now (…) From the attack on my life in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year, which killed a husband and father, to the attacks on ICE agents, to the vicious murder of a health-care executive in the streets of New York, to the shooting of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and three others, radical-left political violence has hurt too many innocent people and taken too many lives.” – DT, 10 Sept 2024
“I really think that there’s got to be a change of government in Britain. You can’t – we don’t have another four years, or whenever the next election is, it’s too long.” – Elon Musk, 12 Sept 2025
“There is no separation of church and state. It’s a fabrication, it’s a fiction, it’s not in the Constitution. It’s made up by secular humanists.” – The Charlie Kirk Show, 6 July 2022
“If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, boy, I hope he’s qualified.” – The Charlie Kirk Show, 23 Jan 2024
“If I’m dealing with somebody in customer service who’s a moronic Black woman, I wonder is she there because of her excellence, or is she there because of affirmative action?” – The Charlie Kirk Show, 3 Jan 2024
“We need to have a Nuremberg-style trial for every gender-affirming clinic doctor. We need it immediately.” – The Charlie Kirk Show, 1 April 2024
“The great replacement strategy, which is well under way every single day in our southern border, is a strategy to replace white rural America with something different.” – The Charlie Kirk Show, 1 March 2024
“[The UK is] a totalitarian third world hellhole. It’s tragic. I don’t say that with glib, I don’t say that with delight. It is sad. It’s chilling and it’s depressing.” – The Charlie Kirk Show, 22 May 2025
“The radicals on the right oftentimes are radical because they don’t want to see crime. The radicals on the left are the problem and they’re vicious and they’re horrible and they’re politically savvy. They want men in women’s sports, they want transgender people, they want open borders. The worst thing that happened to this country.” – DT, 12 Sept 2025
“There’s so much violence on the left, with our friend Charlie Kirk getting murdered in cold blood this week and people on the left celebrating it openly. The left is the party of murder and celebrating murder.” – Elon Musk, 12 Sept 2025
“I really think that there’s got to be a change of government in Britain. You can’t – we don’t have another four years, or whenever the next election is, it’s too long.” – Elon Musk, 12 Sept 2025
“If some amazing patriot out there in San Francisco or the Bay Area wants to really be a midterm hero, someone should go and bail [Paul Pelosi’s attacker] out.” – Charlie Kirk, 31 October 2022
