The Docent's Memo (May 23, 2022)

 

VIDEO: "The US Army’s new Service Rifle - The SIG SPEAR / NGSW XM5"--Garand Thumb (25 min.). He likes the rifle, very much, but toward the end of the video does complain of the heavy loadout and reduced amount of ammo that will be carried. Interestingly, as I've argued in private about, he suggests that maybe the military needs two service rifles: one for mountainous or open terrain (the XM5), and one for the rest of the world (the M4).

Firearms, Shooting & Self-Defense:

• Be sure to check out the latest Weekend Knowledge Dump from Active Response Training. Greg has some articles and content dealing with, no surprise, surviving mass shootings/active shootings. Also, be sure to read through the article "25 Gunfighting Stats Learned From Convicted Cop Killers," and the one on how a full beard can save your jaw in a fist fight. 
• "The Great Shooting Stance Feud." Sheriff Jim Wilson offers a tongue-in-cheek account of the feud over Weaver and Isosceles stances. 
• "Concealed Carry Around the Clock: Understanding Waistband Positions." We often throw out terms like carrying a handgun at a 3 o'clock position, 5 o'clock position, and so on, but for someone new to guns, the terms might be confusing, I guess. Anyway, this article has a good explanation of what each is (for both right and left hand shooters) and a helpful diagram.
• "Gunfighting and Neuroscience: Why Using Your Front Sight Might Kill You." The theory, backed up by research, is that when in a gunfight how well you see is more important than how well you shoot. Key to this success is what the author calls "the quiet eye." That is:

    ... the final fixation on a location that is within 3ᵒ of visual angle for a minimum of 100ms’ (Vickers, 1996). In simpler terms this is a fixed spot that your gaze lingers on prior to executing a task. It could be staring at the rim of a basketball hoop prior to a free throw, or looking at a suspect’s elbow prior to him presenting a firearm.

    The quiet eye phenomenon has been associated with expert ability for many years. No matter the area of sporting expertise, they find that the highest performers always exhibit longer and more consistent quiet eye duration. ...

He continues by discussing the phenomena in a shoot/no shoot situation:

    SWAT officers consistently gazed at areas where a weapon would appear. This allowed them to fixate on the object in the person’s hands for longer periods. This comparatively small difference gave their brain vital hundredths of seconds to determine if the scenario was shoot or no shoot.

    When researchers examined rookie officers they found they spent an inordinate amount of time looking at areas that tell you nothing. They looked at the assailant’s face, around the room, and amazingly, they closed their eyes completely before firing in half of the scenarios!

Turning back to the subject that is the title of the article, the author notes that prior to taking a shot, rookies looked at their sights 84% of the time compared to less than 25% of the time by SWAT team members. He explains:

    Remember that sights do not make you shoot accurately. They are mechanical devices that allow you to point a weapon with more precision. You can shoot accurately without sights! Cue angry boomer screeching.

    I want you to understand that I’m not telling you to avoid using sights. I’m trying to impart some nuance to this discussion. Sights allow you to verify your point of aim. Anyone with significant practice can point a firearm precisely, without focusing on sights. Check out this quick video from National Champion shooter Ben Stoeger.

    Ben is shooting a very hard partial target at 25 yards, while not focusing on his front sight. He is doing this because it is faster than looking at the target, looking at the front sight, looking at the rear sight, and then pressing the trigger. He is able to do this because he has millions of rounds and tens of thousands of hours of pistol practice under his belt. New shooters cannot and should not attempt this.

In other words, he is describing what old timers would probably term "point shooting" or "instinctive shooting." These methods were largely abandoned after the wide adoption of Jeff Cooper's "Modern Technique" which emphasized using both hands to hold the gun and using a "flash sight" method. 

• "Guest Shot: EDC -Not Only About Fighting." Dave Spaulding writes:
  

I’ve been involved in a number of situations off-duty that had nothing to do with fighting and I had the proper state of mind to act instead of dither. I’ve helped traffic crash victims, found lost senior citizens, directed traffic until additional patrol units could arrive, pulled a drowning child from a pool, did CPR on a heart attack victim, treated a severe wound, talked to a suicidal subject and even cut away the trouser leg of a child whose pants got caught in an escalator. Yet with all of these situations, I never thought about my EDC carry gear being appropriate for anything other than armed conflict. A situation not too long ago, reaffirmed the need for everyone to be a potential first responder, to be ready for a wide variety of situations, whether cop or citizen, during the course of our everyday routine.

That situation was described in an news account he'd read about the rescue by passersby of three children stuck in a submerged vehicle. Cutting to the chase, Spaulding recommends the following minimum kit for EDC: a handgun (which was fired to break the window glass, although a glass breaker might be a safer choice for that particular task), flashlight, knife (or some other cutting tool), and a cell phone. 

• "40 S&W: Dead Cartridge or Useful Round?" Much of the article is about the history of the cartridge, with the majority of that being a summary of the 1986 Miami shootout which led to the FBI's adoption of the 10mm which was subsequently modified to become the .40 S&W. I don't know about the dead part and neither does the author because she doesn't present any statistics on the extent of its current use and popularity, such as relative sales figures for ammunition and firearms in that caliber as compared to others. We can get somewhat of an idea of this from whether manufacturers continue to offer models in .40 S&W or release new models in .40 S&W. Just going through Shooting Illustrated's recent article on new handguns for 2022, and focusing on the semi-auto handguns, the vast majority of them are 9mm with .45 ACP coming second, and only two being offered in .40 S&W. Both of those are handguns more intended for the competition market than self-defense. I don't know if that is representative, but it is a data point. 

    The author indicates that the cartridge will probably remain popular with competitive pistol shooters and hunters. I know that .40 S&W is popular among those competitors shooting steel plate. I really haven't come across anything on-line or in person suggesting that hunters like the .40 S&W, although perhaps it is regional. I've long maintained, and still do, that the .40 S&W owed its popularity more to the 10-round magazine ban that was part of the 1994 AWB than any other factor, and that it was doomed as soon as the AWB expired. That's not to say that the cartridge will disappear, but that the number of manufacturers supporting the firearm will decline, and even among those that continue manufacturing .40 S&W pistols, new models will be rare.

• "Did You Know That Bridging Optics Is Bad?" The topic concerns mounting optics on an AR where one end is fastened to the rail on the top of the upper receiver, and the other end is attached to the rail on the front handguard. The problem is that the handguard is not going to be stable and is more susceptible to shift than the receiver, obviously, thus throwing off your zero.
• "Here’s Everything We Now Know About The Army’s New Squad Rifles." Collects a lot of the information we have together into one place, except for the information on the expected carry load and its weight. Fortunately, Military.com was able to put that together for us. 

    The XM5 weighs 8.38 pounds, or 9.84 pounds with the suppressor, much heavier than the 6.34-pound M4. That new rifle will also use 20-round magazines, smaller than the 30-round magazines troops currently use. A soldier's basic combat load will be seven of those 20-round magazines, a total of 140 rounds, weighing 9.8 pounds altogether.

    The M4's combat load, also seven magazines for a total of 210 rounds, is 7.4 pounds. In total, a rifleman with the XM5 will carry roughly four pounds more than today's M4 rifleman [but carry 70 rounds less].

• Would gun control have saved these people? "Wisconsin couple are attacked by mama bear after it charged through a window and bit both of them - before they shot it dead while their children slept." The couple had spotted the bear by a bird feeder in their backyard and it apparently became irate when they yelled at it to try and get it to leave. "Both the husband and wife were injured before stabbing the bear with a kitchen knife. Eventually, the man was able to grab a firearm and kill the animal." 
• C'mon people, we can do better: "Manufacture of Firearms Up 300% Since 2000."
• "3D printed .22lr 1911 (with printed slide)." The article also points out that the "[t]he barrel is also printed with a steel tube lining and will eventually include a printed magazine."
• "New York officials prepare for worst as Supreme Court gun ruling looms." Per the article, "Officials are warning of dire consequences if the court rules against New York’s concealed carry law, which requires that you demonstrate a special need for self-protection in order to obtain a permit." The dire consequences are that more people will be carrying firearms. But don't worry, "State leaders are preparing for the worst, and say they’ll craft new legislation that goes as far as possible in restricting concealed carry while still conforming to the court’s ruling." That is, they plan on subverting the Court's decision as soon as it is made. Since nearly a century of gun control in NYC has been a failure, I don't see how letting New Yorkers who can't afford the bribes, costs and attorney's fees to get a CCL could possibly make things worse.
• "Whites Responsible for Less Than 3% of All Mass Shootings In 2022 So Far—But Black Attacks Skyrocket." Rebutting The Violence Project's assertion that "white men are disproportionately responsible for mass shootings more than any other group," Enzo Porter dug into the numbers and discovered that:
  

At this writing, a review of 2022’s 143 mass shootings at the Gun Violence Archive proves that whites were only responsible for four, or about 2.8 percent of them [Mass Shootings In 2022] As with previous years, the data show, again, that black men are wildly overrepresented as mass shooting suspects, with Mexican and Central American suspects making up the rest. 

 

VIDEO: "May in China, the floods are back/Bamboo blossom and have fruits...More strange phenomena"--China Insights (17 min.). The strange phenomena is the sky turning blood red over several cities, which unfortunately is a sign in Chinese culture of severe famine or warfare. 

Prepping & Survival:

• SHTF News worries that "Mass shootings just one sign of the systemic collapse of western society… more hunger, violence, debt and destruction yet to come." The author, Mike Adams, begins:

    The realization is hitting home for many people that the crises now hitting the United States are not simply one-off events. The infant formula outage, rising fuel prices, supply chain collapse, authoritarian censorship and now a wave of mass shootings over the weekend — they all point to the systemic collapse of western society as a whole.

    We are watching the downfall of western civilization as we know it.

    Having reached the age where gun store salesmen probably refer to me as an OFWG behind my back, I've become somewhat blasé about all of this. Part of it is because I'm old enough to remember the latter half of 1970s early 80s when the U.S. was beset with stagflation, gas and energy shortages, high crime rates, real domestic terrorists running around and blowing stuff up (all leftists, of course), international terrorism (of the communist kind--this was before Israel had strengthened jihadist groups in an effort to weaken the PLO), manufacturing being shifted offshore to countries like Japan and South Korea, a lousy president (you pick which one: Nixon, Ford, or Carter), and the humiliation of the Iranian hostage crises, ending with one of the worst recessions in American history (the result of the Fed having to raise interest rates to get inflation under control). Yet it was followed by what I believe is still the longest peace time economic expansions.

    So, just because things are getting worse right now does not necessarily mean that it will continue that way. On the other hand, I do believe that Western Civilization has been collapsing for at least the past 100 years, and the United States reached its zenith no later than 1968. I guess what I'm trying to say is that even if we are in a civilizational collapse, it does not mean that it will be a steady, slow decline, but that there will be peaks when things get a bit better.

    It also isn't impossible to reverse the trend. Augustus reversed the declines that had set in at the end of the Roman Republic by, in large part, re-establishing Roman religions and traditions. Classical civilization, tempered by Christianity, was recovering after the collapse of Western Roman Empire when the Islamic invasions snuffed it out. Europe recovered from the decline caused by the end of the Medieval Warming Period and the Black Plague and became a dynamic, assertive civilization.  

    Of course, it is not just Western Civilization in decline. The war between Russia and Ukraine shows us that the disintegration of the Soviet Empire continues. One would think that the British Empire had reached bottom, but the recent trip of Prince William through the Caribbean and the desire of several of the island nations to leave the Commonwealth shows that it, too, is still disintegrating. And, of course, China is about to hurtle off a cliff economically and politically. Our times more resemble the Bronze Age Collapse than the fall of the Roman Empire. But I would remind you that the Bronze Age Collapse, rapid as it was from a historic perspective, still played out over a 75 to 100 year period. 

• "Could It Happen Here? 200 Dead, as Sri Lanka Literally Runs Out of Gas." But on the bright side, the government is committed to green energy reforms and saving the planet.
• More: "Crisis-Hit Sri Lanka Defaults On Debt As It Runs Out Of Fuel."
• More: "Food Riots In Sri Lanka Turn Deadly As Protesters Beat Up Police, Burn Down Politicians' Houses." The food shortage in Sri Lanka is mostly due to government reforms that had forced farmers to use organic and sustainable farming techniques.
• "Back to the land: Family farms flourish amid food uncertainty." About a small family farm in Pennsylvania that started offering home delivery during the pandemic for customers that would have otherwise come to the farm to buy produce and/or meat.
• "How gardening really CAN make you happier: Pottering among greenery and tending plants boosts wellbeing, survey shows."
• "Why Every Prepper Needs a Recurve Bow." James Clark at Alpha Survivalist raises three main points: recurve bows are available everywhere (and generally much less expensive than compound bows, I would add), they are quiet, and you can make your own arrows. I would note on the latter point that the reason why states are allowing lower poundage bows for hunting is because of the greater velocity that comes with modern, lightweight arrows; so, if you are planning or thinking about making your own arrows, you will also need a bow with a higher draw weight. Also, start to learn how to do it now and get the equipment you will need because you can just smooth out a stick and glue some feathers to it and have it work.

VIDOE: "A Study of Decadence(When Societies Commit Suicide)"--Whatifallthis (30 min.)

News & Headlines:

• The whole excuse for the vast administrative state is that experts will do a better job of running the country than politicians and the rubes that vote for them. So, of course, we read this: "Biden Admin Quietly Admits Math Error Is Causing Massive Oil, Gas Permitting Delays." 

Richard Spinrad, the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said a subagency “discovered a miscalculation” that has caused a massive backlog in permitting, in the April 29 letter obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation. Spinrad acknowledged the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) — the subagency tasked with analyzing the impact of offshore drilling projects on wildlife — has used faulty modeling on such impacts and, as a result, overestimated wildlife effects, delaying permitting on existing leases.

Although after the crap modeling we've seen in everything from climate science to the Covid-19 pandemic, it should not be surprising. 

• "Energy Officials Issue 'Sobering' Warning About Widespread Summer Blackouts Triggered by Closure of Fossil Fuel Plants." The warning comes from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), which is some sort of international NGO responsible for overseeing grid safety. They are warning that blackouts could hit much of America’s Midwest and West this summer. They blame it on utilities shutting down fossil fuel electricity plants without ensuring sufficient capacity from alternatives. 
• The burned hand reaches once more toward the fire: "Wuhan Lab Publishes Study Manipulating H7N9 Virus To Be More Lethal." 
• Dr. Robert Malone has a good overview of monkey pox for the layman. The important point to remember is that this particular outbreak is spreading through sexual contact--i.e., it is an STD. Moreover, it appears to be mostly limited to gay sexual encounters, which is why are seeing reports tying the outbreak to an adult sauna (i.e., Turkish bathhouse) and a pride festival in Gran Canaria, both in Spain, a fetish festival in Antwerp, and gay bars and saunas (Turkish bathhouses) in Britain (which makes you wonder how a child wound up with the disease in Britain--but don't worry, the Rotherham police will be right on it). Reminiscent of the 1980s AIDS epidemic, which was also almost entirely limited to homosexual men in the United States and Europe, current health officials are pushing the panic button in order to avoid public stigmatization of gay men. Thus--and keep in mind that this is an STD that appears to be mostly limited to gay men--"EU health chiefs tell nations to prepare vaccination strategies amid scramble to contain virus - as Denmark becomes 16th country to be struck down and Boris Johnson reveals No10 is 'keeping an eye' on outbreak." As part of this new strategy, according to the article, will be the development of another vaccine and a vaccination campaign.  
• Completely, totally unrelated: "Wuhan Lab was Experimenting with Monkeypox Last Year – Published Research Report in International Journal in February."
• Do I even have to comment about this? "Investigation Underway Following Mysterious Surge in Deaths of Newborn Babies in Scotland."
• News from Wakanda:
• "Prof calls diversity of thought ‘white supremacist b******t’." 
• "Mass shooting: 9 shot, 2 fatally, at State and Chicago on Near North Side, CPD says." More: "PICTURED: Two gunmen, 20 and 21, who face charges for shootout near Chicago's popular Magnificent Mile shopping district that killed two, injured seven and scattered crowd of frightened tourists."
• "Ex-college hoopster found shot and burned was innocent bystander in deadly NYC gang war: sources."
• "Students trash South Carolina high school; administrators decline to press charges."
• "Philadelphia businesses 'closing left and right' over increase in shoplifting: 'Very dangerous'."
• "Brown University Students Extract Groveling Apology From Working-Class Watering Hole." A black student got kicked out of a bar for fighting and troublemaking, and turned the full force of Brown University and its useful idiots against the bar owner based on allegations that the bar was unfriendly toward blacks and LGBT. And that is the way the Left shows it to "the man".
• "University drops sonnets because they are ‘products of white western culture'."
• "Princeton president demands tenured professor is FIRED after he opposed giving black colleagues more sabbatical time and higher salaries than white staff in wake of BLM movement."
• Even though it is pro-abortion advocates on the Left that are threatening to storm the Supreme Court building, burn it down and murder the Justices should Roe v. Wade be overturned, the Department of Homeland Security wants everyone to know that they are preparing for right-wing violence should the decision be tossed out. 
• For years, supporters of the great replacement have (falsely) told us that illegal immigrants are a net gain for the economy because that is all that matters (notwithstanding some famous person once having said that money was the root of all evil): "New York Taxpayers To Pay $220 Million Next Year For Illegal Migrants’ Health Care." 
• Related: "Migrants Tire of Waiting for Title 42’s End, Surge Across Border into Texas."
• The Russian invasion of Ukraine in a nutshell: "Russia 'has lost as many men in its three-month Ukrainian invasion as it did during entire NINE-YEAR war in Afghanistan due to poor tactics and leadership'."
• I don't know whether to laugh or laugh while rolling on the floor: "China Preparing for “D-Day” INVASION of the Continental United States, With Forces to Land on the Beaches of California, as Biden and Newsom Serve as China’s Accomplices: Sources." I mean, I can easily imagine China actually coming up with such a plan and having the hubris to believe that they could pull it off. I just can't see it succeeding. Even giving them the benefit of the doubt that their troops are more like a tiger than a step-on dog, such an invasion would be like that tiger falling into a river thick with hungry Parana. 
• Food shortage updates:
• "World has 10-week supply of wheat, expert tells UN Security Council: ‘This is seismic’."
• "Ukraine sows crops on over 80% of planned lands - ministry."
• "U.S. aims to arm Ukraine with advanced anti-ship missiles to fight Russian blockade."
• "Italy's Salvini Warns Food Shortages Could Cause 20 Million African Migrants To Enter Europe." He's being optimistic. Especially because the food shortages will probably become a regular feature as the world turns to the renewable energy and sustainable farming techniques championed by the Left. The European governments should have sunk the boats early on to discourage illegal migrations, but they didn't, and as a result they will have to kill far more in the future to avoid being completely swamped by illegal aliens.
• The Democratic Party--so popular it has to cheat to win: "Arizona Sheriff's Office Investigating Active Organized Voter Fraud in Yuma County." This is an investigation into this years (2022) elections apparently as a result of its investigation into the 2020 election showing evidence of ongoing fraud.
• Related: "We Know for Sure: The Media, the Democrats, and Joe Biden LIED About EVERYTHING Concerning Hunter."
• Related: "DNC lawyers met with FBI on Russia allegations before surveillance warrant." I think it safe to say that the FBI, as an organization, has become an enemy of the State. 

Other enemies of the State are the "51 former intelligence officials" who signed a letter declaring the Hunter laptop to be a hoax. Those persons are: Jim Clapper, Mike Hayden, Leon Panetta, John Brennan, Thomas Finger, Rick Ledgett, John McLaughlin, Michael Morell, Mike Vickers, Doug Wise, Nick Rasmussen, Russ Travers, Andy Liepman, John Moseman, Larry Pfeiffer, Jeremy Bash, Rodney Snyder, Glenn Gerstell, David B. Buckley, Nada Bakos, Patty Brandmaier, James B. Bruce, David Cariens, Janice Cariens, Paul Kolbe, Peter Corsell, Brett Davis, Roger Zane George, Steven L. Hall, Kent Harrington, Don Hepburn, Timothy D. Kilbourn, Ron Marks, Jonna Hiestand Mendez, Emile Nakhleh, Gerald A. O’Shea, David Priess, Pam Purcilly, Marc Polymeropoulos, Chris Savos, Nick Shapiro, John Sipher, Stephen Slick, Cynthia Strand, Greg Tarbell, David

Terry, Greg Treverton, John Tullius, David A. Vanell, Winston Wiley, and Kristin Wood. 

• The Democrats are preparing for the inevitable civil war: "Senate Democrats propose DOJ license requirement for gun purchases." FYI: "The bill was introduced by Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.)."
• Wow. And I was just reading how grooming by teachers is a myth: "At least 135 teachers, aides charged with child sex crimes this year alone." Imagine the outrage from the MSM and the Left if this many priests and church workers had been charged with child sex crimes over a 5 month period. But since it is teachers, who are reliable supporters of the Democrats, it is pretty much crickets. 
• Related: "Female Virginia science teacher, 28, is charged with possession of child pornography after cops 'find photos and videos of sex abuse on Snapchat'." The 21st Century witch in action.
• Related: "School Board Member to Host 'Open Mic Night' For LGBTQ Kids - At Her Sex Shop."
• Related: "Loudoun County School Board Moves to Block Investigation of Sexual Assaults it Covered Up."
• Related: "School district invites Philadelphia teachers to attend 'Kink, Trans Sex and BDSM' workshop to 'learn more about trans community' where they were told there is 'no age limit for gender journey', how to use sex toys and what 'puppy fetishes' are."
• At least we have Disney, a company devoted to preserving the innocence of childhood: "Disney Unveils New 2022 ‘Pride’ Clothing Line for LGBTQ Children."
• Considering that American woman under 30 have had, on average, 19 sexual partners, this seems appropriate: "Brides are ditching white gowns for ‘dramatic’ black dresses."
• How churches die: "Berlin archbishop asks forgiveness for homophobia in the Church."
• While we are on the topic of fake Christians, I actually had to laugh at AOC's leftist interpretation of the incident where Christ shamed the Jews from stoning an adulterer, one of the most famous incidents recorded in the New Testament. At least I think that was what she was discussing because almost every detail was wrong:

    'As someone who grew up in in a Christian household I've been thinking a lot about a parable of Christ and if you are would indulge me for those who may not be Christian and familiar with the story... it's a story that is relevant in general.

    'The parable is of a woman... a lot of people may have heard the phrase "Let he who is without sin throw the first stone," in that story there is a woman who was not allowed to be granted a divorce from her husband and so for all intents in purposes they were not really together. There were also the pharisees, strong religious and political leaders. Many of them were in a physical relationship with this woman...' AOC started, before heading off at a tangent.

    'At one point one of the pharisees is caught with the woman and she is immediately marched out into the town square before she is able to get dressed. Everyone surrounds her and try to figure out if they should punish her. 

    'Lets be really clear about the power dynamic here when you have several powerful people doing this. It frankly really blurs the lines of consent because what choice would she have when they hold so much power?,' AOC continued.

    'Christ takes an interest and call him over for advice. He draws something in the sand and people come out to see 'Let he who is without sin throw the first stone.'

    'I think there is deeper meaning to that story,' Ocasio-Cortez said as she entered an analytical phrase. 

    'Christ does not condemn her. The people who did something wrong there were those who were abusing her power. There are a lot of those kinds of types around today, trying to abuse women and take their autonomy away. All in the name of a book that they haven't really studied that closely.  

 She obviously isn't Christian because it is one of the most famous stories from the Bible and she horribly mangled it. First, it wasn't a parable, but an actual event. Second, the account contains nothing about the woman's--the adulterer's--background other than that she was caught in adultery. All the details that AOC is adding are completely made up--that the woman was not allowed to divorce, that she was involved in physical relationships with many of the Pharisees, that she was caught in adultery with a Pharisee, that she was marched into the town square before she could get dressed--it's not in the Bible. It is feminist claptrap that has been added to suggest that the woman had done nothing wrong. Third, Christ may not have condemned the woman, but he also did not tolerate her adultery because his last words to her were to "sin no more." 

• "Why is Canada euthanising the poor?" Basically, as the article explains, it comes down to saving money. 
• "AI Can Predict People's Race From X-Ray Images, And Scientists Are Concerned." Supposedly the concern is that racial bias could be unintentionally applied by computer software when studying images. The unstated concern is that it undermines the narrative of race being a social construct and, therefor, could get the researchers blackballed. The article reports that accuracy was as high as 90% with some groups of images. 

    Right now the scientists aren't sure why the AI system is so good at identifying race from images that don't contain such information, at least not on the surface. Even when limited information is provided, by removing clues on bone density for instance or focussing on a small part of the body, the models still performed surprisingly well at guessing the race reported in the file.

    It's possible that the system is finding signs of melanin, the pigment that gives skin its color, that are as yet unknown to science.

    "Our finding that AI can accurately predict self-reported race, even from corrupted, cropped, and noised medical images, often when clinical experts cannot, creates an enormous risk for all model deployments in medical imaging," write the researchers.

    The research adds to a growing pile of evidence that AI systems can often reflect the biases and prejudices of human beings, whether that's racism, sexism, or something else. Skewed training data can lead to skewed results, making them much less useful.

Yes, we have reached the point where merely identifying someone as being of a particular race is racist, even when done by a machine. 

• Someone enjoyed reading the Goosebumps books as a kid: "Scientists Gene Hack Hamsters Into Hyper-Aggressive Monsters." 
• Health and longevity researchers should be jumping all over this: "New Jersey Voter Rolls Have 2.4K Registrants 105 Years Old or Older." Track these people down and find out the secret of their long lives!
• A good time to be a mouse: "Scientists REVERSE memory loss in mice by injecting them with brain fluid of younger rodents in potential dementia breakthrough."
• After $5.1 billion and years behind Space-X, Boeing's Starliner finally reached orbit last Friday and successfully docked with the international space station. Cost plus contracting may be expensive, but it sure is slow.
• "Voyager 1 mystery: Sending random data." According to the article, although the Voyager 1 antenna remains pointed at Earth and the probe hasn't gone into a protective fault mode, the telemetry data they are receiving appears to be "randomly generated, or does not reflect any possible state the AACS could be in." Another article, "Something strange is up with 45-year-old spacecraft Voyager 1," reports:

Voyager 1’s altitude articulation and control system (AACS) is sending back some strange readings, and engineers are puzzled as the craft is still operating normally. The AACS is responsible for keeping Voyager in the right orientation and making sure that its antenna is pointing toward Earth so that the spacecraft can transmit data. But now, the AACS is sending back data that doesn’t make any sense — the data looks like it could be scrambled, for example, or suggests that the system is in an impossible state — even though the antenna is still pointing the right way and transmitting just fine.

It has been a long while since I took my class in state machines, but since the craft is beyond the heliosphere--i.e., in interstellar space--with the high radiation exposure that would bring, I would guess that radiation is inducing the failures by flipping bits here and there. Since the AACS is still working, it also suggests something is wrong between where the data leaves the AACS and it being broadcast rather than something wrong with the AACS itself.