I’m reminded of a quotation by Jean Sibelius: Pay no attention to what the critics say. A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic.

Other M was a pretty decent game overall. People just don’t like it because of the questionable script, but if you ignore that ( The Metroid series has never been big on scripted dialog anyway), it’s a pretty solid game, although not in the same league as most of the others.

Didn’t it sound like Twilight Princess music?

This story basically tells me nothing other than that someone who was convicted of a felony assault with a deadly weapon is possibly being deported, because, understandably, most countries deport non-citizens who commit serious crimes such as felonies. If she was acting in self-defense, why didn’t she defend herself…

Yes, that is what  I meant. My mistake. 

And the law does balance this. As a private individual, you generally have more of a right to privacy than a public figure, especially a public official.

It’s probably more the basic guarantees of freedom of expression under the state and federal constitutions that you have a problem with, rather than the law itself. The law was written specifically to try to avoid being overturned by the State and Federal courts as unconstitutional. It’s not the California…

California law requires proving, beyond a reasonable doubt:

I mean, this court ruling seems to suggest that he had a right under the Constitution to share them, since they were in the public interest. So she could sue him, but the same reasoning would probably apply. And she would additionally have to prove that they had an agreement or understanding not to share them at the…

California’s Constitution and laws are always going to put a heavy burden of proof on the defendant to prove their case if they’re trying to restrict someone’s right to freedom of expression. This is a good thing. The alternative would be living somewhere like the UK, where people can be sued into oblivion by powerful…

I honestly don’t think it’s a problem at all. Anti-SLAPP was written to stop powerful and wealthy people and individuals from abusing the courts by suing the media or individuals. If you try to silence someone through the California courts and you lose, you’re likely to have to pay their legal costs. Her lawyer would…

The courts have generally been very deferential to the first amendment in cases like these. I suspect that if you made, “publishing naked pictures of someone without their permission,” criminal, the law would almost certainly be overturned as violating the first amendment. The revenge porn laws have tried to be narrow…

The west coast is generally abysmal for bagels. LA had some decent bagels. Now, finally the Bay Area is getting some. In about 20-50 years, they should be available in Portland and Seattle.

Yeah, the problem with this is just that we really don’t know how good natural immunity or the vaccine is. For instance, the mRNA vaccines I believe use one specific antigen, which is going to trigger a specific immune response we know is effective at fighting current strains of COVID-19. A real infection has the real…

I mean, the level of antibodies doesn’t really matter for long-term immunity. Generally, vaccines can be tailored for maximum immunity based on data whereas with natural infections, you get what you get.

Immunity always fades after an infection/vaccine. The only real question is how long it lasts before you need a booster shot for the vaccine to remain effective. For some vaccines, it could be every few months, for others, every few years, for some, every few decades.

The thing is, not everyone knows if they have a compromised immune system. Like, maybe I have the vaccine, but I’m working long hours and not getting much sleep and I pick up a couple of infections that my body is fighting off, then you give me COVID-19. The infection isn’t necessarily dangerous to me. It might not…

I mean, people with medical conditions who are vaccinated and who are wearing masks have to be able to live their lives. They’re relying on everyone else getting vaccinated and wearing masks to protect them, because even with the vaccine and even with a mask, someone with a compromised immune system can still become…

  Experiments establish that elevating heart rates predict elevated metabolic rates and elevated metabolic rates predict elevated heart rates. They’re logically equivalent. Also, every single measurement of energy expenditure is correlative. There’s no way to directly measure energy expenditure. That’s how energy…

Yeah, because what I wrote was actually backed by science. Some people’s hearts are more efficient than others, either because they’re in better cardiovascular health or they’re smaller people with less blood to move. Changes in heart rate are still strongly correlated with energy expenditure, even allowing for…