Ethical journalists do not begin with the conclusion. They begin with the facts, allowing the preponderance of the facts themselves to present the story that needs to be told.
Today’s journalists often begin with a faulty premise, largely driven by their political party. They allow themselves to be deceived into cherry-picking only those facts which support their position, or worse, failing to weed our erroneous or false information before going to press.
The term “mudstream media” is entirely appropriate.
Good journalists gather all the information, ranking it from most to least credible, not by their bias, but by the preponderance of the information, double-checking the facts, both to corroborate and to discount information through multiple sources. In a way, they act a bit like both prosecutor and defender in the public eye.
Presenting “both sides of the story” is NOT good journalism, particularly when one side of the story is full of holes, is only from “our sources,” or cannot stand up to rigorous scrutiny. The “equal time” doctrine amounts to journalistic FAILURE. It’s a failure in journalistic ethics, integrity, and reality. Furthermore, by merely lending an air of credibility to groups engaging in violence, if not terrorist tactics, bad journalists legitimize criminal behavior, thereby performing a grave disservice to society as a whole.
“The mainstream media is in a tailspin: TWICE in one day, CNN defended Antifa, and MSNBC can’t figure out why Trump’s approval rating is still solid. Perhaps it’s because your MSM colleagues are running cover for a domestic terrorist group, and the American people know that your nonstop negative coverage of the president is fake.”
To a highly-decorated Marine: Negative. Everything is NOT in a name! Get a grip, Marine. You and I were both in the military. We’ve both lived all over the world. We both have lived and worked alongside outstanding men and women of all races, faiths, genders, and creeds.
Racism is in the mind. It is NOT in a name, except, perhaps, to the simple-minded. Since I have it on good authority we do not mint simple-minded members of the military in any branch of our Armed Forces, rest assured, we can put this particular train of thought to bed and move on to one which promises to bear more fruit, and Lord willing, we shall do just that.
Provided, of course, you can refrain from your unceremonious slinging around of inappropriate and undeserved labels such as “white supremacist” within this context to everyone who holds an opinion differing from yours…
On to more objective matters:
I did not graduate from Washington-Lee High School. I have life-long friends, however, who did. I graduated from a neighboring high school, and competed against W-L in swim and track.
I believe Washington-Lee’s own history page speaks for itself. I challenge everything to actually slow down, take a deep breath, and read for yourselves — en toto — W-L’s history in it’s entirety.
In the meantime, I leave you with this, their own motto: “FOVEAT DIVERSITATES” Cherish the differences — Mabel Allen, W-L faculty from 1924-1968.
Mabel and tens of thousands of others associated with W-L fully recognized that rather than weakening the nature of their school’s life, by embracing the differences, embodied in the very name of the school itself, the strengths of those differences, as well as how they work together to achieve new heights, would live on in the hearts and the minds of all who follow.
Indeed, it has been my very proud honor to have worked alongside people of all races, faiths, creeds, and genders in the United States Air Force.
It’s not that we were stronger “because of” or “in spite of” our differences.
Rather we were stronger for no other reason than we stopped looking at our differences altogether. That means we also stopped wigging out every time someone brought up some ridiculous allegation about some’s race, faith, creed, gender, or their NAME.
Names simply ARE. They are as much the right and heritage of a school as they are the right and heritage of an individual.
RESPECT requires first and foremost that you respect what as withstood the test of time, in this case, for 94 years, and not in absentia, but in full view, support, and approval of the entirety of efforts of myself and countless others to preserve, and not lobotomize, our nation’s history, together, as One Nation, Under God.
On the other hand, John, perhaps we should just knee-jerk change every name under the Sun every time someone gets an owee without first ascertaining WHY institutions were named as they were in the first place.
In the case of Washington-Lee, it was to both acknowledge differences and wounds less than 60 years old and build upon those differences through unification.
Before Washington-Lee High School is forced to remove the history behind its name, I’m preserving it, here. It’s a GOOD name for GOOD reasons and is NOT “racist.” Only a blitheringly idiotic political hack cum “politically correct” imbecile would ever come to the conclusion, after actually reading about the school’s history, would ever come to the conclusion that the name is an any way “racist.”
The following brief history updates one written for the 75th Anniversary Celebration in 1999.
“This school in which you will receive your education has a nationwide reputation for excellence resulting from the past achievements of its students. You have a right to be proud of this reputation, but with this pride goes a responsibility for measuring up to the high standards of citizenship and scholarship.” – Mr. O. U. Johansen, principal (1961-1976)
As Washington-Lee (W-L) approaches its centenary, the school continues to add to the many historical milestones that have created one of the most enduring and inspiring legacies of any public high school. The school was noted for many historical “firsts” in its early years, and it welcomed students from around the country and the world shortly after opening its doors. In the subsequent decades, the school embraced its legacy as a progressive institution. Of course, W-L’s history would not be complete without acknowledging the challenges it faced. The brief history below and the adjacent historical timeline illustrate the last 92 years of innovation and continuity at W-L. W-L’s guiding principles through the decades can be summed up by this phrase from one of W-L’s most beloved teachers: “FOVEAT DIVERSITATES” Cherish the differences — Mabel Allen, W-L faculty from 1924-1968
Before Washington-Lee, area high school students attended public schools in nearby Washington, DC or in what is now the City of Alexandria.* In 1922, Arlington County citizens voted for school bonds to cover the cost of a new centrally located high school; it was the first time bonds were used to finance school construction in Virginia. The investment became a reality when Washington-Lee High School opened for students on October 6, 1925. Named for two distinguished Virginians with local roots, George Washington and Robert E. Lee, the school took its name from Washington & Lee University.** The original three-story Beaux Arts style school building faced an open athletic field, today’s Arlington War Memorial Stadium.
W-L grew in size as did Arlington County, requiring an expansion in just five years. The school soon became known for its academic and athletic accomplishments. The W-L Cadet Corps, the first JROTC in Northern Virginia, included a significant number of students. W-L’s crew team was formed in 1949 as the region’s second oldest scholastic rowing program. A rivalry with Alexandria’s George Washington High School was reflected in the annual football game for the Old Oaken Bucket, a Thanksgiving Day tradition for over three decades. Symbolizing the student body’s spirit of unity during the turbulent 60s, the 1966 boys varsity basketball team won the state championship as the first integrated team. W-L became a model for other schools throughout Northern Virginia and the state.
Academically, W-L was one of the first area high schools to offer advanced, college-level classes. When national high school rankings grew in popularity, W-L was rated as the “No. 2” high school in the country in the 1960s and also was named the state’s “grooviest high school.” As foreign immigration to the region increased, W-L and nearby Stratford Junior High School offered the first ESOL classes in 1967; over 10% of the student population was foreign born. In 1985, W-L was honored for its academic achievements by the U.S. Department of Education. In recognition of the school’s diverse, high-achieving student population, President Barack Obama addressed the student body in 2012.
Many graduates have achieved success in the arts, science, business, the military, government, athletics, and more. In entertainment alone W-L boasts Oscar, Emmy, and Tony winners; other alumni have won Nobel, Pulitzer, Olympic, World Series, and Super Bowl awards.
Notes on the School’s Namesakes:
From the 1950 Blue and Gray on the school’s 25th Anniversary:
“As a new school, Washington-Lee was suggested and approved by a board as a necessary project. Its construction was begun in 1924. Its classes were held at Cherrydale and Ballston until 1925 when the school was near enough completion for classes to be held here. Originally known as [the central high school], its present name came from that of Washington & Lee University.”***
According to the History of Washington-Lee in the Generals’ Aide Student Handbooks, published in the 40s-70s:
“The name was taken from Washington and Lee University; however, the and was omitted and a hyphen substituted to distinguish one from the other.”
The new school opened as Washington-Lee High School on October 6, 1925.
The W&L University website has an excellent section on the background of the school’s namesakes and the history of the university. According to the university, “Founded in 1749, Washington and Lee University is named for two men who played pivotal roles in the University’s history: George Washington, whose generous endowment of $20,000 in 1796 helped the fledgling school (then known as Liberty Hall Academy) survive, and Robert E. Lee, who provided innovative educational leadership during his transformational tenure as president of Washington College from 1865 to 1870.”
While W-L’s name comes from W&L University, there are local Northern Virginia and Arlington County historical landmarks associated with the high school’s namesakes. They include Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home, owned and operated by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, and Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial, operated and maintained by the National Park Service. Beginning in the 1890s, the Mount Vernon mansion and grounds were restored, after many years of decay, by the Association, the country’s first historic preservation organization. In 1925, the year W-L opened, Arlington House was restored as the nation’s memorial to Lee. According to the National Park Service, “Today Arlington House is preserved as a memorial to Robert E. Lee in honor of his dedication to peace and reconciliation after the Civil War.”
Notes:
George Mason High School opened in 1919 in the Del Ray community. It was the first and only high school in Alexandria County; previously, some county residents paid tuition to City of Alexandria high schools. The county was renamed Arlington the following year. In 1925 George Mason moved into a new building; and with W-L now open, an inter-county rivalry developed. In 1930 the City of Alexandria annexed the Town of Potomac, which contained the community of Del Ray, from Arlington County. George Mason High School, now in the City of Alexandria, closed soon afterwards. The old George Mason High School building is currently the Mount Vernon Community School, operated by Alexandria City Public Schools.
Early historical accounts, published by the school, recall how the school took its name from Washington and Lee University (W&L), and how the hyphen replaced the ampersand to eliminate any confusion between the two institutions. A number of W&L traditions were adopted by W-L, such as the honor code, the generals mascot, the nickname (pronounced “WnL”), and the school seal. The original seal was designed by Francis David Millet, a Union veteran and renowned artist “who was last seen helping women and children into lifeboats” during the sinking of the RMS Titanic, as quoted from his biography on Wikipedia. The name Washington-Lee High School was formally adopted by the Arlington School Board on July 31, 1925. (In prior school board minutes the yet-to-be-named school was referred to as “the central high school” while classes were held in the Ballston and Cherrydale Schools. More information about the school’s early years can be found in History of W-L, 1924-1939 and in other school publications.)
Use of brackets above clarifies the original text, which said “Central High School.” According to Sally Loving’s history of W-L, the school was not named “Central.” For the 1924-1925 school year the yet-to-be-named school was called “the central high school” in school board minutes (See History of W-L, 1924-1939 pp 9-10).Classes were held in the Ballston and Cherrydale schools. For the purpose of interscholastic sports George Mason High School in Del Ray referred to the still unnamed school as Ballston High School (1925 George Mason High School yearbook).
Far from mere -isms, however, cognitive bias colors, distorts, and sometimes utterly obscures the way humans see the world. Many people have been absolutely certain X is true, based on the totality of their education, training, and life’s experiences only to learn, often the hard way, that X wasn’t true at all. Often, they thought Y to be false when Y was actually true.
Click graphic for full size:
Cognitive biases fall into one of four categories, depending upon their origin: – too much information – not enough meaning – the need to act quickly – the limits of memory
Ordinarily, I like this guy. I’ve watched a number of his videos on aviation and space flight and have thoroughly enjoyed them all.
Until now. This video is so loaded with unscientific propaganda pushing for low-sulfur everything, even when there’s absolute so legitimate scientific basis that it’s sickening. Take a listen:
As a military aviator (rated officer) with 20+ years and 2,500+ hours of flight time, I’d like to take the time to dispel some myths raised by Curious Droid, whose many other videos I’ve watched with complete enjoyment.
1. “There are no such regulations on the aerospace industry.”
Yes, there are, with the parent category covered by 49 U.S. Code § 44714 – Aviation fuel standards, which states, “The Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall prescribe—(1) standards for the composition or chemical or physical properties of an aircraft fuel or fuel additive to control or eliminate aircraft emissions the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency decides under section 231 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7571) endanger the public health or welfare; and (2) regulations providing for carrying out and enforcing those standards. (Pub. L. 103–272, §?1(e), July 5, 1994, 108 Stat. 1195.)”
In fact, the earliest standards began in 1958 (Aug. 23, 1958, Pub. L. 85–726, 72 Stat. 731, §?601(e)), and all major industrialized countries have similar standards, including the EU and most member countries.
2. “You only have to see a B-52 taking off to get an idea of the pollution that can be produced.”
The G-models were “polluting” well into the 1990s. In fact, “Most B-52Gs were destroyed in compliance with the 1992 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty; the last B-52G, number 58-0224, was dismantled under New START treaty requirements in December 2013.”
But the “pollution” you see isn’t pollution, per se’, but rather, a mix of steam from the roughly 30 seconds of water injection used for take-offs and soot produced at full throttle. The water injection system capacity was 1,200 US gallons. That’s a lot of steam! The engines at full throttle produced a lot of soot. Combined, it looks dirty gray and very “polluting,” but at altitude and at cruise throttle, the G model’s J57-P-43WB turbojet engines produced far less soot.
3. “AVGAS, the aviation version of petrol used by smaller engine aircraft still has lead in it long after it was removed from cars.”
US annual AVGAS use hovers around 4,000,000 barrels (about 170 million gallons) per year. By comparison, US auto gas use hovers around 140 billion gallons per year.
Compare those numbers!
AVGAS is about 1/10th of 1% of auto gas. Also, consider where they burn their fuel. Thus, while lead was certainly an issue with automobiles choking cities by the millions, adversely affecting those who live in the cities, the thousand times less quantity of AVGAS, released into the atmosphere thousands of feet above the ground and almost always above the countryside, results in zero measurable effects on the citizens below.
But the greatest issue involves the engines. NBC News claims, “Consumer Reports says the average life expectancy of a new vehicle these days is around 8 years or 150,000 miles. Of course, some well-built vehicles can go 15 years and 300,000, if properly maintained.” By comparison, “Based on results from the 2001 GA survey the average age of aircraft in the active general aviation fleet is estimated to be approximately 28 years, with piston aircraft accounting for the majority of the aging fleet.”
While many new general aviation engines make use of the same advances in electronic ignition and sensors as found in modern cars, those older aviation engines absolutely must run tetraethyl lead ((CH3CH2)4Pb). If they don’t, they will die in short order. Due to burdensome FAA regulations, replacement engines are often not available, and those that are cost $50,000 or more, a huge burden to most plane owners.
But if you want to blame anyone, blame Congress and the FAA. Engine manufacturers like Lycoming would have gladly switched from engines that relied on leaded gasoline to avoid knocking, IF they could have done so economically. Sadly, burdensome regulations made that impossible. The hurdles placed upon manufacturers were ridiculously expensive while accomplishing very little. Many still read like a three-year-old trying to tell his or her father how to build a house.
Even so, automotive and aviation engines are significantly different. A turbocharged aviation diesel engine weighs half as much as a turbo-charged automobile diesel engine producing the same horsepower. Same goes for gasoline engines. The environments in which they operate are significantly different. You would never, for example. apply full throttle to a car engine and hold it there for twenty minutes during a climb from 70 degrees at sea level to 10 degrees at altitude.
Those design requirements mean engines cannot be built the same for aviation as they are for automobiles.
4. “Nearly all jet engines in use today use a form of kerosene called Jet A-1.”
Civilian jet and turboprop aircraft around the world use a variety of fuels, of which Jet A-1 is the most common. Jet A-1 has both a lower freezing point as well as anti-static additives which make the fuel safer to handle. But there’s also Jet-B, which has enhanced cold-weather performance, No. 3 (China, similar to Jet A-1), and TS-1, similar to Jet B. As for Jet A-1’s “military equivalent,” those would be JP-4 and JP-5 fuels (NOT JP-8 as you claimed), covered by the MIL-DTL-5624 and meeting the British Specification DEF STAN 91-86 AVCAT/FSII (formerly DERD 2452), are intended for use in aircraft turbine engines.
JP-4 was used by the Air Force, but had a very low flashpoint. JP-5 had a higher flashpoint and was used by the Navy aboard aircraft carriers.
JP-7 was used aboard the Lockheed A-12 Oxcart, the YF-12, and the SR-71 Blackbird. It had a very high flash point to contend with the high heat encountered during sustained supersonic flight.
JP-8 is a jet fuel, specified and used widely by the U.S. military in everything from jets to turboprops, tanks, diesel trucks, and HMMWVs. It is specified by MIL-DTL-83133 and British Defence Standard 91-87. JP-8 is a kerosene-based fuel, projected to remain in use at least until 2025. It was first introduced at NATO bases in 1978. Its NATO code is F-34. It includes a corrosion inhibitor and anti-icing additives
Again, JP-8 is NOT the “military equivalent” of Jet A-1. Your error in this regard is WHY I’m writing this.
5. “Jet fuel is a more highly refined, cleaner, dry version of diesel…”
In a word, NO. While it’s true jet fuel doesn’t contain the lubricants needed in piston diesel engines, the fact of the matter is that jet fuel isn’t diesel at all. It’s kerosene, and kerosene and diesel are NOT the same thing.
Long version: “The constituent molecules differ in the number of carbon chains. The lightest of them all is methane with CH4. Up to C4H10, the molecules are light and often used as paint solvents or dry cleaning agents. Then, from C7 to C11, that’s where gasoline is derived. Kerosene follows the chains of gasoline from C12 to C15. Kerosene is colorless liquid, usually dyed blue to distinguish it fro”m water in other parts of the world.
Predominantly, it is used in home heating and cooling systems because of its cleaner burning and fewer carbon dioxide emissions. Each type of fuel is obtained through distillation process which is made possible by the different boiling points of molecules. Consequently, kerosene boils between 302 and 572 Fahrenheit degrees. It is extracted before the petroleum diesel is extracted between 392 and 662 Fahrenheit degrees.”
“Diesel is widely known as the best alternative of gasoline with its low carbon dioxide emissions, low prices and high torque at slow speeds, etc. The fuel is used largely in industrial applications in heavy machinery. Its distinction from kerosene is characterized by more complex molecular chains. Its boiling point range is 392F and 662F; thus it is extracted after kerosene has been derived at 572 degrees Fahrenheit. “It is the difference in boiling point that has led to the extraction of the diesel and kerosene fuel from crude oil.”
Bottom line, please learn the technical details before you start spouting junk on YouTube.
6. “The reason why sulfur is not removed from jet fuel is that it’s not high enough to cause significant engine damage, and more importantly, there’s no regulatory requirement to do so. It’s cheaper to leave it in than it is to take it out.”
Your last line is just ridiculous. If that applied, there would be no removal of sulfur from diesel and gasoline, as removal does cost money.
Sulfur is removed from gasoline and diesel because both are used in dense cities, which lead to the formation of smog, a serious metropolitan health hazard. The reason there is no regulatory requirement to remove it from jet fuel involves precisely the same two reasons tetraethyl lead isn’t removed from AVGAS: A) Comparatively tiny volumes and B) it’s burned well away from metropolitan areas.
7. “In a jet engine, there are no catalytic converters or NOx absorbers, so soot particulates from unburnt fuel and sulfate go straight into the atmosphere.”
First, it’s a NOx “adsorber,” not “absorber.”
Second, it’s clear you don’t understand how it works, or that it’s a part of the catalytic converter itself, not a separate unit: “NOx adsorber-catalyst systems have been developed to control NOx emissions from partial lean burn gasoline engines and from diesel engines. The adsorbers, which are incorporated into the catalyst washcoat, chemically bind nitrogen oxides during lean engine operation. After the adsorber capacity is saturated, the system is regenerated during a period of rich engine operation, and released NOx is catalytically reduced to nitrogen. NOx adsorbers also require periodic desulfation, to remove sulfur stored in their washcoat.
8. “This is where much of the contrails, or condensation trails, you see come from.”
Uh, NO. They do NOT come from soot, NOx, CO2, or sulfur. Condensation is, quite literally, condensation of water vapor ALONE. While its true condensation at a particular temperature requires nucleation, it’s also true that condensation occurs at a lower temperature without nucleation when two water vapor molecules bump into one another, forming the beginning an ice crystal which itself continues nucleation.
If airplanes burned pure hydrogen, they would produce the SAME condensation trails utterly void of sulfur, as both jet fuel and pure hydrogen both produce H2O as a byproduct of the combustion process. It’s WATER, people, precisely the same as you see in every cloud. The reason we don’t use pure hydrogen has to do with the very high cost of production and transportability. That would be nice if it were feasible, but it’s not, so dream on.
I sincerely hope your inclusion of a “water vapour and sulpur [SIC]” in your diagram, along with the numerous mistakes you’ve made in the previous four minutes isn’t indicative of this being an anti-sulfur propaganda piece, and not an objective or well-researched article like the many others I’ve viewed from Curious Droid…!
9. GOOD coverage on the chemtrail conspiracy.
10. GOOD coverage on the “very complicated picture” regarding the net heating/cooling effect contrails have on our global climate.
11. Your comments about soot being a “problem” with RP-1 engines is misplaced.
First, rocket launches are extremely rare as compared to other forms of transportation. “On average, more than 100,000 wildfires, also called wildland fires or forest fires, clear 4 million to 5 million acres (1.6 million to 2 million hectares) of land in the U.S. every year.” Each of those forest fires produce millions of times as much soot as produced during an RP-1 fueled, F-1 powered Saturn V launch.
Once again, we’re talking about a negligible contribution some 700 billion times less than natural processes. To say that RP-1 fueled rockets don’t make a hill of beans bit of difference one way or the other would be an incredible understatement. They make no detectable difference at all.
12. Solid Rocket Boosters, on the other hand, can be corrosive.
However, hydrochloric acid (HCL) is found throughout the environment, most notably in the stomachs of nearly all animals, but also in the oceans. It’s a natural component of Earth’s ecosystem.
13. “The rising demand for low sulphur [SIC] fuel is pushing up the cost dramatically so that when aviation is brought into line the prices could [be] some what higher than expected.”
As proven above, sulfur in aviation fuel is a negligible contributor, hence the reason it is NOT regulated as has gasoline and diesel for roughly sixty years.
14. “In 2020 new rules will apply to ships banning the use of high sulphur [SIC] bunker fuel…”
Ships burn several orders of magnitude more fuel than does the aviation industry. Even so, the “need” to clean it up shipping release of sulfur has not been proven.
The Earth has absolutely no problem cleaning up a certain amount of pollution. Indeed, the fuel was obtained from the Earth in the first place, so we are in no way introducing something that wasn’t already there. Furthermore, volcanic activity produces huge quantities of sulphuric acid, something on which you clearly have yet to crunch any numbers.
Please do your homework!!! Just because the automotive industry has “had to clean up its exhaust products” because of its massive consumption of fuel does NOT mean industries with far less fuel consumption such as shipping or aviation “has to” do so as well.
That’s a fool’s errand, and a well-known logical fallacy. I’ll leave it up to you to research the name of that fallacy, if you can.
Had a tiny minor accident this evening. I was pulling into the Safeway when a woman driving a red car was pulling out. Problem is, she was exiting via the entrance side of the lane.
I stopped.
Fortunately, a couple of toots on the horn brought her to a stop, as well. She simultaneously turned her head forward as she applied her brakes. That explains, in part, why she was using the wrong lane. She had been looking behind her. WHY she was looking behind her remains a mystery. It was also fortunate the bumper to bumper contact was barely felt at all. No damage.
That didn’t stop her from jumping out of her car and claiming I was in her way because she was turning left and she had the right to be in the left side of the exit.
Yes, one of those.
I didn’t bother arguing, but just looked at the bumpers. They weren’t even touching, but they had bumped. Zero signs of damage.
When I turned back to get into my truck, she said, “Are you evening listening to me?”
“Sure,” I replied. “Heard every word.”
“I’m calling the cops,” she said, pulling out her phone.”
“Good.” I crossed my arms. “They’ll give you the ticket.”
“Why would they give me the ticket? You hit me!” she screeched.
“Well, for one, I’m not driving on the wrong side of the road.” I swept the scene with my hand. “Whereas you’re driving on the wrong side of the road.”
“I was not!” she screamed. “I was making a left turn!”
By this time her passenger had exited the vehicle and said, “I’ll back her up. It’s two against one.” Scaredy cat stayed on the other side of the car. “What do you say about that?”
I pointed to the rooftop cameras pointing right at us. “I say those cameras will tell law enforcement, when they arrive, a far more accurate story.”
They quickly got back in their car and left, but shouted obscenities as they pulled away.
As I noted their license plate, I couldn’t help but notice something else, a rag-tag bumper sticker that read…
