Wednesday: Hili dialogue

November 6, 2024 • 8:45 am

*Yes, the Republicans took the whole hog last night: the Presidency, the Senate, and likely the House.  See the post just below for that Nooz. This post was written yesterday afternoon, before the polls closed.

Welcome to a Hump Day (“Çarşamba günü” in Turkish): Wednesday, November 6, 2024. It’s National Nachos Day, and wouldn’t you like some right now?

Simranjeet Sidhu, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

It’s also Basketball Day, Eat Smart Day, and National Saxophone Day.  In honor of the last day, I give you one of Coleman Hawkins‘s greatest solos, “Body and Soul”. First, a few words from Wikipedia:

On October 11, 1939, [Hawkins] recorded a two-chorus performance of the standard “Body and Soul“, which he had been performing at Bert Kelly’s New York venue, Kelly’s Stables. In a landmark recording of the swing era, captured as an afterthought at the session, Hawkins ignores almost all of the melody, with only the first four bars stated in a recognizable fashion. Hawkins’ departure from the melodic themes of the tune, use of upper chord intervals, and implied passing chords in that recording have been described as “one of the early tremors of bebop”.

The other guy in the photo below is surely Charlie Parker, but Parker didn’t play on this cut. It must be a stock photo.

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the November 6 Wikipedia page.

Da Nooz:

*THIS IS OUTDATED NOW: SEE THE PREVIOUS POST. If you want to follow the election results in real time, a good way to do it is to look from time to time at the “election needle” of the NYT, where the needle swings to one side or another depending on who’s winning. I remember following it during the day in Hong Kong when Hillary Clinton moved the needle on the blue side, and then it moved toward the red side bit by bit, until the eection was called (I had voted by mail in the U.S.).  I was dumbfounded and depressed, but I’ve told that story before. If you subscribe to the NYT, you can find the needle here, or by clicking below:

An excerpt:

How does the needle work?

The Needle considers two fundamental questions: Where are the votes that remain to be counted in a particular race, and which candidate is faring better than expected in the results so far?

As results begin coming in, the Needle compares what is being reported with pre-election expectations, county by county and precinct by precinct. It then estimates who will win the remaining vote based on patterns it has seen in the results so far.

But making these calculations is far from easy.

Pre-election expectations are created by combining data from New York Times/Siena College polls, other public polls, voter registration files, the U.S. census and past election results. At the start of the night, this is all the model knows.

Once it receives results, the Needle uses a statistical model to spot demographic patterns that help it understand how votes vary in different types of counties or precincts. If a candidate performs better than expected in highly educated areas, for example, our model will adjust other highly educated areas toward that candidate. It then blends its pre-election expectations, the output of the statistical model and the results that have been tabulated thus far into a single estimate.

Like any statistical model, the Needle improves as it sees more and better data. It performs best when an election includes predictable partisan and demographic divides, which allow it to judge quickly whether a candidate is on track for a victory. It is helped when election officials break out returns based on different methods of voting, like voting in person, or by mail.

*The EurAsia Daily, and many other sources, report that Imane Khelif, whom we’ve met before, and who won a gold medal in women’s welterweight boxing in the Olympics, is really an XY male with a DSD (“disorder of sex development”) that caused changes in the genitals that led him to be raised as a woman. And, in fact, he had no idea that he was a biological male, so one can’t pin this unfair medal on him. Rather, pin it on the Olympic Committee that didn’t check very closely. An excerpt (bolding is as in the original):

French journalist Jaffar Ait Audia claims to have received a copy of the medical examination of Olympic boxing champion Iman Khelif, the Reduxx Internet portal reports.

The report of June 2023 indicated that the Algerian woman has a deficiency of type II 5α-reductase is a violation of sexual development, which occurs only in biological men.

A genetic abnormality affects the normal development of the child’s genitals. At birth, male children with such an anomaly are often mistakenly attributed to the female sex due to the presence of deformed genitals.

MRI results showed that Helif does not have a uterus, but testicles and a “micropenis” resembling an enlarged clitoris are present. A chromosomal test confirmed that the athlete has the XY karyotype, and a hormonal test showed that she has a typical testosterone level for men.

In 2023, the International Boxing Association (IBA) suspended Khelif from participating in the World Championship due to a DNA test that revealed she had a male Y chromosome and elevated testosterone levels.

Despite the test results, the International Olympic Committee allowed Khelif to participate in the 2024 Olympics. Officials cited unclear standards for biochemical testing and opaque management of the IBA. The IOC is convinced that “the athlete is not transgender, and her testing was illegitimate and not trustworthy.”

In Paris, 25-year-old Khelif became the winner of the women’s tournament in the weight category up to 66 kg.

In turn, the famous British journalist Morgan Pierce reacted to the published information.:

“Confirmation of what some of us were saying at the time: Khelif is a biological man. The gold medal should now be selected and awarded to the best real woman.”

The testosterone is crucial here, for it’s what gave Khelif the athletic advantage to win the gold.  If he really does have normal testosterone for males (the male and female ranges don’t overlap), then his participation in the women’s league would normally violate Olympic rules, but the Olympics has stopped checking that. It will be a tough decision for the IOC about whether to take back the gold medal.

*This just in: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired one of the three members of his war cabinet: Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Israelis are going nuts; they don’t like it at all!

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel fired his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, on Tuesday over differences on the prosecution of the war in Gaza — a risky step at a moment when Israel is fighting on two fronts.

Mr. Gallant was pushing for a cease-fire deal in Gaza that would secure the release of hostages, and his dismissal removes the main proponent in the government for such an agreement. Mr. Gallant and Mr. Netanyahu also clashed over domestic political issues, particularly the conscription of ultra-Orthodox Israelis.

Mr. Gallant had increasingly been viewed as an internal opponent to the prime minister, and he has been a more moderate voice within the government on security issues.

Mr. Netanyahu, who announced the decision in a video statement issued by his office, said, “significant gaps on handling the war” emerged between him and Mr. Gallant.

He named Israel Katz, the foreign minister, as the new defense minister, and said he offered Gideon Saar, a hard-liner, to replace Mr. Katz as foreign minister and formally bring his party into the coalition.

The prime minister’s decision comes at an extraordinary moment for Israel. Its military is fighting against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, two groups backed by Iran, and bracing for possible Iranian attack in a cycle of retaliatory strikes. It is also conducting raids in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Israel’s closest ally, the United States, is voting in a presidential election that could have major implications for the American approach to the war in the Middle East. Mr. Gallant maintained close contact with senior U.S. officials, who often chose to communicate with him instead of Mr. Netanyahu, a dynamic that frustrated the Israeli prime minister. On Monday, Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, called Mr. Gallant to discuss the situation in Gaza and Lebanon.

A friend of mine in Israel wrote me this: “Half the country is out on the streets. It’s considered almost taboo to fire a defense minister in the middle of a war. I’m actually in Israel now and it’s quite loud.” And, according to the Times of Israel, anti-Netanyahu demonstrators are out in the street in both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

*The Free Press reports that Georgetown University’s School of Public Policy, treating its students like toddlers (which they may well be), is giving them every bit of child self-care save blankies:

On Wednesday, the day after the election, most of us are going to roll out of bed, have our breakfast, and get on with our day—no matter which presidential candidate wins. But students at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy—where diplomats and policymakers are molded—have another option: They can play with Legos. Seriousl
In an email to McCourt students, Jaclyn Clevenger, the school’s director of student engagement, introduced the school’s post-election “Self-Care Suite.”
“In recognition of these stressful times,” she wrote, “all McCourt community members are welcome to gather. . . in the 3rd floor Commons to take a much needed break, joining us for mindfulness activities and snacks throughout the day.”
Here’s the agenda (and no, you can’t make this up):
10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m.: Tea, Cocoa, and Self-Care
11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.: Legos Station
12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m.: Healthy Treats and Healthy Habits
1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m.: Coloring and Mindfulness Exercises
2:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m.: Milk and Cookies
4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.: Legos and Coloring
5:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.: Snacks and Self-Guided Meditation
 
I wanted to ask Clevenger why college and graduate students needed milk and cookies to recover from their stress—and how being coddled in college might someday affect American diplomacy—but she didn’t respond to my calls or emails.
Of course, Georgetown is hardly the only school fearful that their students will be traumatized after the election. At Missouri State University, the counseling center has set up a post-election “self-care no phone zone space” with calm jars, coloring pages, and sensory fidgets.
And just last week, The New York Times reported that Fieldston, the elite New York City private school, was making attendance the day after Election Day optional for “students who feel too emotionally distressed.” Fieldston has also eliminated all homework requirements that day, and is even providing psychologists for “Election Day Support.”
Jerry Seinfeld told the Times that his family found such decisions so aggravating that it caused his youngest son to withdraw from Fieldston and switch to a different school in the eighth grade. “What kind of lives have these people led that makes them think that this is the right way to handle young people?” he said. “To encourage them to buckle. This is the lesson they are providing, for ungodly sums of money.”

And from Harvard Divinity School, a whole list of “self care” activities. The tweet below disappeared suddenly after I got it from Luana, but I saved a screenshot. Basketry, puppets, mending, and sonic meditation!

And if you’re an adult and can’t cope, well, there’s alcohol or, if you want, the NYT article by Gary Greenberg, “Advice from a psychotherapist on how to cope today.” Here’s the gist of his advice, and consider yourself lucky that you don’t have to pay for it!

In the unraveling, I find myself offering counsel that I offered before only in the face of hopeless circumstance — a terminal illness, say, or the death of a loved one: that many of the most important parts of our lives are beyond our control, and equanimity cannot be had without surrender to circumstance. This is one thing of which we can be certain: History’s wheel is indifferent, not unlike cancer or a cheating spouse, and can crush us willy-nilly. Which means, I hear myself saying to my own surprise and dismay, that it falls upon us to cultivate helplessness.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili may be talking about the election:

Hili: I feel the hint of change.
A: For the better?
Hili: I don’t know. Time will tell.
In Polish:
Hili: Czuję powiew zmian.
Ja: Na lepsze?
Hili: Nie wiem, czas pokaże.

*******************

From Cat Memes:

From The Dodo (remember Yahtzee?)

From America’s Cultural Decline into Idiocy, a true idiot with a “polite” reminder:

From Masih, a suicide: a girl who was harassed repeatedly for noncompliance with Iran’s draconian dress code:

And I’ll add this: a photo of Khavari:

From Luana:

Okay, now we’ll have calming tweets since everyone is anxious:

From my feed. I want a pet bear! Sound up.

Because it’s already a dolorous day, I’ll omit the Auschwitz Memorial today and put in three tweets from Matthew. The first is of a Japanese rocket test viewed from a nearby airplane: “Launch of X-band defense communications satellite “Kirameki 3″ by H3 rocket No. 4”

A crab protecting (and disguising) itself by putting a coral on its back:

. . . and the Tweet of God!

25 thoughts on “Wednesday: Hili dialogue”

  1. I saw a headline about Netanyahu firing Gallant yesterday and thought it was a Goofus and Gallant joke.

    3. Maybe I am slaphappy right now, but I think that’s the funniest thing I’ve read all week. I got a great image of what the accompanying cartoon would look like. Thanks for that. That was pretty great.

  2. It may be almost a taboo to fire a Defence Minister during a war but where else in the world but Israel would the people be free to protest about it in the middle of said war?

    1. I have Israeli relatives but I haven’t seen them in decades. What I do remember is that they were tough, brusque, and didn’t tolerate bullsh*t. It’s a beautiful thing.

  3. Yup. (I’m referring to the U.S. election.)

    On the firing of Gallant. This was rumored for weeks, but was undertaken during a news day when few would notice. I noticed and, although I don’t know all the issues, I am disappointed. Gallant is a strong defender of Israel and has prosecuted, with the rest of the War Cabinet, a very effective war—despite efforts by the Biden administration to limit Israel’s work. The Israeli public will not be happy.

    And, a local church in the Seattle area is also turning itself into a self-care facility for those with election anxiety. (I heard about it on KOMO 1000 yesterday.) So, I’m not at all surprised that universities are doing the same for those poor helpless souls who can’t handle the stress. How will they ever handle a job, I wonder?

  4. NYT writes:

    “In the unraveling, I find myself offering counsel that I offered before only in the face of hopeless circumstance — a terminal illness, say, or the death of a loved one…”

    Seriously? It’s an election, not the end of the world. I’m baffled by this attitude.

    2. It’s to make sure that you know they are now among the oppressed. The lowest shall be the highest.

  5. Imane is a female Arabic first name. If ever any chromosomal or gonadal male deserved being referred to by a female pronoun, it’s Imane Khelif, who was “assigned female at birth” (truly appropriate here) through no fault of her own, so I think it would be better to use the pronoun she is used to unless she tells the world that she now wants to be treated as male.

    1. Imane has known his actual sex for years, as have the people who form his support system. He has a DSD which isn’t uncommon in his area, a body which unmistakably masculinized at puberty, and several tests showing that he’s male.

      When he nevertheless entered female boxing competitions and qualified for the Olympics, I think he lost the right to be referred to as “she.” He and his handlers walked right into a controversy specifically about his sex. That requires that people who want women’s sports to remain the category for the female sex must be allowed to use plain language which doesn’t obscure the facts or implicitly concede the argument.

      1. It’s not Khelif’s fault if the IOC is this crazy (they had the test results and decreed the tests illegitimate and unrealiable). No professional athlete who was allowed to compete by IOC idiocy, whether in a question of doping or of weight categories or of sex, would have declared the IOC standards wrong and decided not to compete.

        1. It lets the IOC off too easily to ascribe their decisions to idiocy or insanity as these terms imply the sufferer cannot understand or form a motive for his actions. It is unlikely that the IOC is composed of people with a mental age of two years or who are afflicted with a disease of the mind such that they cannot distinguish right from wrong. (M’Naughten.) Rather, the IOC was consciously and rationally motivated by political animus against the boxing authorities, plus some over-arching desire to be trans-inclusive, to discount the disqualifying test results. If they had been merely mentally slow they might have listened to gentle persuasion and done the right thing.

          I suppose you’re right. If the umpire forgets to call an infield fly and I pick the ball up off the ground and field it for a double play, I’m not going to call his attention to his mistake. But on the other hand I’m not going to brag about my brilliant fielding and threaten to sue anyone who writes that I got the two outs only because the ump blew the call.

  6. Obviously this psychotherapist does not practice logotherapy.
    On the other hand, if the treatment plan involves them not being able to handle things on their own, he’s probably benefitting very well financially from their repeat visits to his office.

  7. It has long been thought that Khelif has 5α-reductase deficiency, which is the same sydrome to which the African runner Caster Semenya is subject.

    Some detail: 5α-reductase is an enzyme that converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone. Chemically dihydrotestosterone is just what it sounds like, it is doubly hydrogenated testosterone. At two locations of the testosterone molecule double carbon bonds are broken and hydrogen atoms attach to one of the carbon atoms. Normal individuals convert tiny amounts of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone by means of the 5α-reductase enzyme. Even biological females do that, though the amounts of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone are tiny compared to the amounts in normal males. 5αRD individuals lack the gene to manufacture the 5αR enzyme and hence completely lack dihydroT.

    Most aspects of male development require T, but dihydroT is needed for genital development and certain other things. 5αRD individuals who are chromosomally XY are usually identified, or rather misidentified, female at birth since the external genitals appear female. But they have internal testes that produce male typical amounts of T. Such people are usually thought to be female, and are raised as girls. Before adolescence nobody has reason to think they are not biologically normal girls. They usually undergo a male typical adolescent growth spurt and develop size, muscle mass, and bone density in the male range, sometimes at the low end of male normal, but way higher than female normal.

    5αRD XY people are biologically male, but not typically so. Caster Semenya, and Imane Khelif assuming the same syndrome, lack external male genitals. They have no significant beard growth and they lack male typical body hair. They will never get male pattern baldness even if they have the relevant gene and they will never get prostate enlargement in old age.

    Disclaimer: My expertise is math and mathematical physics, not biochemistry or genetics or medicine or biology. But I researched the issue and I believe what I wrote above is accurate. If not corrections are welcome.

    1. Ironically if a woman had his level of testosterone she would automatically been eliminated for cheating.

      Fairness should be equally applied and there should have been no exceptions just because was a man.

      It was ridiculous for the IOC claim that he had an F on his passport and that was his only requirement for eligibility into the female boxing ring.

      1. Agreed. I do have some sympathy for people like Semenya and Khelif who grew up as girls and understandably think of themselves as girls. I don’t see them as equivalent to the vile swimmer Lia Thomas who is normally biologically male and always knew that and simply has the autogynephile fetish together with phenomenally bad sportsmanship. But after learning of their unusual biology they should simply honorably decline to compete with such unfair advantage against biological females as many people with DSDs do. And if they won’t, they should be banned from competing.

    2. Thank you, Mr. Cole. It is an interesting case. Reality’s Last Stand talked a bit about it as did our friend (of WEIT) Emma over at FondOfBeeltes.
      From a biological perspective it is very interesting.
      all the best,

      D.A.
      NYC

  8. Re “calm jars”: at university half a century ago we made these, not for comfort but for the groovy pseudo-3D patterns. Oh wow, the colours….

  9. Re the Japanese rocket test: did they neglect to close the commercial airspace over the launch area?

  10. Georgetown. I came to the USA from a functional life in Tokyo to study Middle East politics at graduate level at Georgetown U. 1992. It was wonderful (then).
    Even met my (current, still) wife there.

    Their descent into the darkest woke horrors is very disappointing but… I’m going to say it again here: institutions can decrep, decay, turn into shadows of their earlier greatness. Again: BBC, Time Magazine, Pan Am, PBS, etc. And Georgetown.
    Things change not always for the better.

    Hope the kids enjoy their snacks though. (sigh).

    D.A.
    NYC

  11. “The testosterone is crucial here, for it’s what gave Khelif the athletic advantage to win the gold. If he really does have normal testosterone for males (the male and female ranges don’t overlap).”

    Male Testosterone levels are quite significant, even if they are reduced later. The athletic advantages of Testosterone in male puberty don’t go away. According to George Cazorla, Imane Khelif has successfully suppressed his Testosterone levels. Quote “We then worked with an Algeria-based doctor to control and regulate Imane’s testosterone levels, which are currently in the female range. Some tests clearly show that all her muscle qualities and others have diminished since then. Today, on a muscular and biological level, she can compare with a woman-woman-woman”.

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