Lionel Mandrake

Lionel Mandrake's Journal

October 1, 2022

marginalization of astrology

During the seventeenth century astrology became disreputable. It ceased to be studied in the universities. The upper classes came to despise it. I've often wondered how this came about. It certainly had something to do with Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton. To those who agreed that the earth orbits the sun and revolves on its axis in 24 hours, there was no longer any need for a crystalline sphere to carry the fixed stars. Those stars had fixed positions and could be at various distances from us. The stars in any particular constellation are not physically close to each other. The idea that a constellation exerts any influence on people is not even plausible. Thus astrology deserved the disrepute into which it had fallen by the time of Newton.

September 8, 2022

The CDC has people confused about COVID.

The CDC reports two different COVID statistics with similar sounding names for each county in the USA.

The statistic most commonly reported is called "Community Level" and measures the strain on hispitals. Right now Los Angeles County has a LOW "Community Level", but unless you work in a hospital this information is of no use to you.

The statistic most of us should worry about is called "Community transmission level”. Right now Los Angeles County has a HIGH "Community transmission level”. That means your chance of catching COVID-19 is high.

To find the transmission level in your county, click on the arrow under "Data Type" and scroll down to "Community Transmission" (the last item in the menu) on this webpage:
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/?fbclid=IwAR1d1DFhKrbVTzAzCrHP_17wDFu0y6EMmI72gJPtAxnEyyJDD6vL0_NQlWI#datatracker-home

Profile Information

Gender: Male
Hometown: The Left Coast
Home country: USA
Current location: electrical wires
Member since: Sun Jul 1, 2007, 06:47 PM
Number of posts: 4,076

About Lionel Mandrake

I study, play the piano, play chess and go, and enjoy the company of my wife, children, grandchildren, other relatives, and friends. I am a perennial student at a school where they let me attend classes and use the library for free (because I'm old). My serious reading includes math, science, history, and biography. I enjoy science fiction and mysteries, which my wife and I refer to as "mind rot". And now on to politics. I hated Nixon and Reagan. I think W is a war criminal and was easily the worst president in US history until Trump came along. Trump and Sessions should be tried for having separated small children from their parents, which was a crime against humanity. I will support any candidate who is a "dove". I support "plan B" without prescription for girls of all ages. I support free abortion on demand, without delay, and without the requirement to notify anyone, for all women and girls who want it. I think it's time to repeal the Bush/Trump tax cuts for corporations and the very rich.