How Fast the Weather Changes

Just a month ago, the limiting factor on astrophotography was that sunset was so late that I could not stay up and still be up to see my wife off to work.  Now darkness falls early enough but at the price of cloudy nights and last night, heavy rain.

More than rain. 

New York's Ban on Guns in Houses of Worship

 Preliminary injunction granted prohibiting enforcement of the ban and for all the right reasons.  Hardaway v. Nigrelli (W.D.N.Y. 2022).  If there is any tradition about and churches in effect in 1791 or 1868, it was the requirement to be armed present in several of the colonies.  Left unsaid: if white supremacists want to attack a black church or a Jewish house of worship, a ban will not stop them but an armed worshipper might.

I Still Cannot Watch "Changing of the Guard" Without Getting Choked Up

I have blogged about it before.  What a powerful lesson in how a teacher changes lives even if they do not see the effects immediately. 

I Watched This Because I Thought it Might be a Mass Murder That I Missed

No one died, but this apparently badly wronged guy built himself a tank and started destroying buildings.

Twilight Zone Season 3 Episode 30

While the loon is obsessed with "Reds," his behavior is profoundly cancel culture totalitarian. 

America's Weirdest Place Names

 I find this Brit in America videos entertaining.  This one is especially amusing.  Why are there cities named Uncertain, Texas and Whynot, North Carolina?

Affirmative Action Seems to be in Trouble

 The oral arguments before the Supreme Court suggest that at least six justices are not strong on the status quo.  What if the Court goes crazy and says public and perhaps even private colleges may not discriminate based on race?  Possible responses:

1. Eliminate legacy preferences.  Just because four generations of Winthrops have attended Harvard is no reason to give them preference.

The more radical responses all involve hard questions that no one in the Deep State considers safe to ask, such as why so many black kids are not getting into Ivy League schools.

2. What role does poor literacy modeling in ghetto families play?  You learn to read and actually do so for pleasure because you grow up in a home where your primary role models read.

3. Does the poor quality of public K-12 education impair learning of black kids?  Can we solve this without the ickiness of school choice and tax credits for private schools?

4. What role does violence in public schools play in impairing learning?  I was subject to violence in elementary and junior high.  (Smallest and youngest kid, every grade.  That I was a poor student until 9th grade might just be a coincidence.)

5. What role does illegitimacy play?  Blacks are roughly twice as likely to be born out of wedlock as whites.  Unstable and unpredictable homes cannot be positive roles for education.

The problem is that 2-5 involve some cultural imperialism, much like many American public schools imposed on a couple generations of immigrants with horrifying results: kids who grew into adults who joined the middle class and went to college.