Cav's Place

Since Sunday I happened to see the opinion piece praising the planned easing of the restrictions on gene editing farm animals and plants in the United Kingdom posted on The Guardian, or more exactly on The Observer, before the comments were closed, I ended up writing a pretty lengthy comment… Which was promptly removed. I did ask why and was somewhat surprised to receive a response, letting me know that the reason was the part about the COVID-19 vaccine, since it’s a contentious matter and wasn’t mentioned at all in the article, so in such cases they must enforce the “keep it relevant” part of the community standards more strictly than they usually do in order to prevent replies from focusing on this other topic, so it didn’t matter that I used it as an analogy that people should know well, pointing out that even when the technology is, in itself, clearly proven to be safe and effective, other immense problems arise when private corporations are allowed to control and profit from it. And I do appreciate the fact that they did explain the decision, but still disagree with it, especially since the discussion was closed for comments less than an hour later, so there wouldn’t have been much time for those off-topic comments they were worried about.
Either way, seeing as I put some effort into that comment, I decided to add it here, so it won’t get lost. Not that, with the exception of that analogy, it really says anything I didn’t already say when I posted about GMOs back in 2011 and 2013, and those posts may actually explain some elements of my stance somewhat better. But they were posted about a decade ago, so I guess this also counts as a quick update, and a way to say that my stance remains unchanged, and the main reasons for the opposition are also the same, so any assurances about safety, even if they’d somehow be entirely trustworthy, don’t respond to them in any way.

The comment was:
“While seeing something like this is and will always be disturbing in itself, seeing it in a supposedly leftist publication is just another frankly terrifying piece of evidence of the Overton window.
While private corporations will always put profits over their customers’ safety, consumer safety of GMOs may be the least potential problem and the one most likely to be solved in a satisfactory manner, eventually. But economic matters, fairness and environmental impact? Those are a different story, and the major reasons why GM food created by corporations should never be allowed.
You just have to look at the COVID-19 vaccine for recent evidence. Safe and effective? Absolutely. But it’s making tens of billions for a few corporations who initially, when demand far outstripped supply, limited availability only to the wealthiest and most ruthless states, now hold governments of wealthier states to contracts requiring the purchase of far more than necessary at high prices while still leaving poorer states without, block the generic production and widespread availability that would actually be for the benefit of public health worldwide through patents, and now that they see that the demand in the wealthier states diminishes are taking it easy on the development of variant-specific ones, which we were initially supposed to have in spring, while pushing for further boosters of the same old versions that they have in stock, even though some sections of the population would be far better served by variant-specific ones.
Now extrapolate that to food, something that everyone needs on a daily basis and which (for some reason…) isn’t guaranteed as a basic right and provided free of charge by governments either, and which can also spread and contaminate the environment and cause hardship for the organic agriculture we should be switching more towards.
Now if the development of GMOs would be placed in the hands of scientists and international organizations that would be under heavy scrutiny and required to not patent their work and leave it fully open to verification and reproduction, and the use would be contained in order to prevent spreading into the environment or interaction with organic agriculture, the matter would be open to debate. But handing out control of the world’s food supply to Big Ag legally as well, when it already has it economically, is only a recipe for (even worse) disaster.

The one thing the article got right is that the world is overpopulated and overheated. So let’s work on those things, starting with the places where the per capita environmental footprint is the highest. The best thing one can do for the environment in the long run is not have children, while the best things to reduce the current impact are to not fly or drive and adjust dietary habits. So government policies should be aimed in those directions and not towards pipe dreams of allowing business as usual to continue thanks to techno fixes from the profit-minded private sector.“

I definitely hope that things will improve soon, because I was saying that last year’s edition was quite poor and now I find myself needing to say the same about this year’s. Admittedly, it can be said that I didn’t pay close enough attention to the semi-finals, since I watched the first and part of the second while working on dinner, but I did pay attention to the final and must say that it was quite a struggle to do so, finding myself getting increasingly bored and drifting off more and more after a certain point. The fact that one of the best overall acts and what struck me as possibly this year’s best song, albeit harmed by a low show value, didn’t make it, both actually ending up next to last in their respective semi-finals, definitely didn’t help, though most of the automatically qualified entries did add to the level of the final. There are few, if any, songs that I’ll keep in mind after this edition, and while the overall show value was better than the overall musical value, I wouldn’t say that any entries actually stood out from that point of view either. But at least the use of camera tricks, which had been bothering me in recent years, was reduced to some extent.
At least when it comes to the songs, I knew what to expect, having listened to them after all were posted on the official channel, once to the entire list, a second time to those that didn’t put me off right away and a few more times to the few that I found more interesting. I don’t know what might have been, however, since I didn’t check national finals as well… Or at least I don’t recall doing so, despite meaning to at one point, so I either gave up on the idea right away or checked the entries that ended up second and maybe third in a couple that I thought were more likely to be interesting, found nothing memorable and then gave up.

Of course, there was no question about this year’s winner. Or, more exactly, if Ukraine wouldn’t have won, it’d have meant that humans are even worse beasts than I think they are, which would be quite hard. The performance wasn’t bad, but it was irrelevant. The vote was completely political, and it’s the one time when it absolutely had to be this way. It seems unlikely that Ukraine will be able to host next year’s edition, but that matters too little at this point.
United Kingdom ending up second was a surprise, on the other hand. I did find myself thinking that I should be liking it more and ranking it higher, but I just couldn’t get myself to do so, at least not so late during the final, when I was struggling to still pay attention and it was a new song, not one I already knew from the semi-finals. So it was one of the better entries and maybe I was unfair to it to some extent, but even after listening to it again while writing this, I can’t see it among the top five, not to mention second.
Spain had a powerful entry, with a decent show value, but I was unimpressed by the song itself and they actually struck me as trying to overcompensate for it. Most obviously thought otherwise, but in this case I stand by the relatively low position I placed them in, plenty other entries being better.
On the other hand, Sweden probably had the best song from the final, the problem being the relatively low show value. The singer did her best, but there was only so much she could do, being alone on the stage. Even so, not counting Ukraine, this was the entry that best deserved its high position, and one of those I could have seen being second, even though that relatively low show value made me place it fifth.
On the other hand, in Serbia’s case it was pretty much the opposite, their good result likely being almost entirely thanks to the show value, and maybe to some extent also the message, since there were subtitles for some of the lines, the song itself being one of the worst in the competition. Not that the performance would have been enough to stand out even from the point of view of the show value on a good year, but this wasn’t a good year.

With those thoughts of changing my ranking system being put aside, even if I sometimes disagree with the results, I’m just sticking to the one I’ve been using for so long, giving one mark for song and another for show value, plus a positive, neutral or negative modifier, and ranking first according to the overall mark that is the result of averaging the song and show ones, then according to the song mark and then, if both marks are equal, according to the modifier. In case all three are equal, the ranking is the result of me trying to quickly compare the performances in question at the end.
Once again, still largely for my own use, I’ll list all the information here, with the first number being the position in my classification, the one between parentheses that follows it being the actual position, the first number that follows the country name being the overall mark, the second being the song mark and the modifier, if not neutral, being listed at the end. All links are from the official channel, so they shouldn’t vanish.

1. (8.) Greece (6.75, 6.5, plus)
2. (20.) Armenia (6.75, 6.5, plus)
3. (21.) Finland (6.75, 6.5)
4. (15.) Australia (6.75, 6.5)
5. (4.) Sweden (6.5, 7)
6. (7.) Moldova (6.5, 6.5)
7. (24.) France (6.5, 6)
8. (16.) Azerbaijan (6.5, 6, minus)
9. (23.) Iceland (6.25, 6.5, plus)
10. (12.) Poland (6.25, 6.5, plus)
11. (1.) Ukraine (6.25, 6, plus)
12. (2.) United Kingdom (6.25, 6, plus)
13. (18.) Romania (6.25, 6)
14. (22.) Czech Republic (6.25, 6)
15. (3.) Spain (6.25, 6, minus)
16. (5.) Serbia (6.25, 5.5)
17. (10.) Norway (6.25, 5.5, minus)
18. (13.) Estonia (6, 6.5, plus)
19. (17.) Switzerland (6, 6.5, plus)
20. (6.) Italy (6, 6)
21. (19.) Belgium (6, 6, minus)
22. (11.) Netherlands (5.75, 6, plus)
23. (25.) Germany (5.75, 6, plus)
24. (9.) Portugal (5.75, 6)
25. (14.) Lithuania (5.75, 6)

My ranking didn’t match the actual result for any country, was one place off for Moldova and Sweden, and two places off for Belgium, Germany, Poland and Switzerland. On the other hand, it was at least ten places off for Armenia, Australia, Finland, France, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Spain, Ukraine and United Kingdom.

With nothing truly standing out, Greece struck me as a good overall performance, with a good enough song that was performed well and a singer that was alone on a stage that was nevertheless filled, this actually also making sense in the context of the song. And singing about dying together also struck me as bold when this toxic positivity keeps being pushed for so long.
Armenia was in many ways similar, also a good enough song that was performed well and a lone singer that didn’t imply a low show value. The difference was that it was more of a performance, more effort being put into the show value, but the song itself seemed slightly weaker than Greece’s, and the message more common, which was what made the difference in the end.
Even if Finland didn’t strike me as being as good as Bulgaria, they were the ones that qualified and represented the genre in the final, so maybe their position is in some part thanks to that, but the overall performance was also one that was, or should have been, good enough to matter.
With Australia, I mostly get back to what I said about Greece and Armenia. A good enough song, a lone singer performing it very well and also putting some effort into the show value, and a good and relevant message. But maybe the song wasn’t quite as good as those, or maybe it was the difference between male and female voices that made me rank it lower.
I already wrote about Sweden, but I’ll just say again that it was probably the best song that made it into the final, the problem being the pretty low show value, and probably also the topic that was so common.
In Moldova’s case, the fact that I understood the lyrics likely meant that I had a better opinion of it than I’d have had if it’d have been in any other non-English language… Even though I oppose those who want to reunite Moldova with Romania, as I oppose any attempts to integrate any country or territory into another, because it leaves those who want to remain independent or as they are with nowhere to go. I still wonder how they got away with such a political message, however, and even they thought they’ll probably need to change it. But, moving past that, it was a pretty powerful entry that could stand out and drive away some of the boredom that was setting in by that point of the final.
By contrast, I have no idea what France’s entry was about, but it was also a pretty powerful one and they paid even more attention to the show value, so it stuck in my mind to some extent, seeming to stand in its own category, even though there wasn’t much to the song itself.
My opinion of Azerbaijan’s song improved in the final, quite a lot in fact, and they also put some effort into the show value, even if it only seemed to be a matter of effort and not also of thought, so all I can say is that the combination was good enough for this position.
Iceland had such a soft and sweet song, and sometimes that also stands out and sticks to mind. The performance was entirely static and they made use of those camera tricks that I was complaining about, but they just looked so “right” for the song.
I must admit that I was drifting off by the time Poland’s turn came, and maybe the fact that I became aware of it during the United Kingdom’s performance and thought that I should have ranked that higher made me do so for this one instead, so maybe it should have ended up a little lower, but the song was performed very well and at least there were some more people on stage.

As for the semi-finals, in the first one I had Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia and Denmark instead of Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway and Portugal, which actually were my bottom four. Still, just Norway making it actually bothered me in itself, Lithuania, Netherlands and Portugal having songs that I guess appeal to juries, though oddly Lithuania was actually taken through by the televote, and I did sort of want at least Netherlands to make it based on the song itself, the problem being the lack of show value. And I also don’t mind that Austria didn’t make it, the fact that they ended up in my top ten being a result of my system, and can’t say that I particularly mind that Denmark failed to qualify either, but I would have liked to see Croatia in the final and Bulgaria definitely had to be there, striking me as having one of the best overall performances this year. As for the second semi-final, I had Malta and Montenegro instead of Azerbaijan and Belgium. The problem isn’t that those two made it, Azerbaijan’s entry actually growing on me in the final, and probably also not that Malta didn’t, the song seeming much weaker during the actual competition than it had seemed to me when I had listened to it before, so I might have placed it among the top ten mainly because of that first impression. Montenegro, however, struck me as having what was probably this year’s best song, so while it was plagued by a lack of show value and I actually had to cheat a little in order to get it in my top ten for that semi-final, it definitely should have qualified… And I cheated a little for Estonia as well, and that song wasn’t as good, yet it qualified and Montenegro didn’t.

Since I just keep getting slower and couldn’t include the comments about my top ten before going to bed, needing until 5:10 AM to even post what’s above that section and the paragraph about the semi-finals and ending up getting in bed when it was almost 5:20 AM as a result, I initially meant to split this post in two, adding those comments as a separate one. But I keep editing personal posts in order to add sections that I don’t manage to write in time, so I eventually decided to do the same with this post, editing it Sunday evening to add that section.

Leaving the remaining odds and ends from April for another time, I’ll start this post with the early hours of May 3, when I made the tea for the morning and then ate dinner, which also included some of the new peanut butter, between 1 AM and 1:55 AM, and went to bed at 3:50 AM. There was some pain that seemed to come from that rib that I probably cracked multiple times in the past, which worried me for a while, but at one point the kind of pain that I recognize as being caused by that bone spur also appeared, which made me think that my back might be the cause after all. And that was probably correct, since working on my posture made the pain go away.
Either way, I got up when the alarm rang, at 8 AM… And it was a good thing I chose that day for that morning run, because soon after I woke up they started mowing all the plants from that area behind the building again, meaning that I couldn’t have slept anyway. So I had the usual stuff plus almonds, with the sweet thing being both a slice of cozonac, with added honey, and a small expired banana protein bar, as in one out of a double one, since I wanted to see whether I could take the other part with me on the day of the half marathon. Rather surprisingly, considering the early hour, even left something in the toilet, albeit less than I felt I had to. Then I also took both supplements and went out at 9:45 AM, wearing the full running gear. The reported temperature was 12-13°C, reaching 14°C when I finished, but it was cloudy. I can’t say I felt the chill on the way to the park, however, since I rushed.
The time was 46:41.07, with sector times of 4:03.79, 4:59 (4:58.22), 5:46.53, 4:24 (4:23.81), 4:55.03, 5:44.16, 4:24.41, 4:58 (4:57.06), 5:39.21 and 1:49 (1:48.85), making for lap times of 14:48.54, 15:03.00 and 15:01 (15:00.68). I managed to start right at 10 AM and pushed hard from the start, obviously feeling that I couldn’t keep up that pace but wanting to see what it meant on the first sector and managing that outstanding time that makes it a new second fastest first sector, and that was despite having to slow and squeeze through a group of what were probably high school students having a photo shoot on the long straight. After that, I also wanted to cover the first lap in less than 15 minutes, which wasn’t a problem, but the initial target of staying under 47 minutes seemed in danger after tiring myself so much from the very start, making me think that I should be aiming to just stay under 47:30. Still, from sector two of lap three I gave it everything and after that sector I realized that I might just have a shot at staying under 47 minutes after all, being surprised to already have a safe margin at the end of the lap.
There were pretty few people, and if you exclude that group on sector one, which was still there on lap two but had learned to leave some space, it seemed that most of those who were on that path around the lake at that hour were runners, so while I still occasionally had to weave or go the long way around, there were no notable issues other than that one on sector one of lap one. I felt bloated, however, and that was the notable physical issue, the couple of moments when a certain pressing need seemed to appear quickly passing, as did the brief pain, or more exactly discomfort, from my liver and back. On the other hand, the bugs that got right in my eyes on sector two of laps one and three likely caused me to lose a little time, since they remained stuck there. And if during the series of three runs in five days I had noticed the lane breaking up in a couple of places on the paved area of sector three, by then it was significantly worse, at least three spots posing a serious potential problem on the long straight of sector one, and starting to give the impression that it was starting to fall apart in general, at least in some areas.

After getting back, I ate a banana and drank about half of the last of those bottles of Pepsi Max. Considering the bloating, that was probably a bad idea, but I thought it might help me stay awake, since I then changed, also gathered my clothes from the balcony, and left again a little after 12:25 PM. The first destination was Auchan, but that somehow simply slipped my mind right after crossing the street, probably proving how sleepy I was, so I ended up going the wrong way, almost getting to the intersection before finally realizing it and turning back. But at least I got there well enough and just bought one of those breads, seeing that it weighed just four grams less than the listed weight. Also meant to get a few of those meringues from that confectionery, but the price had increased, so I gave up.
Continuing on the planned route, I then went to the Kaufland and Carrefour that are next to each other, quickly checking a few other places on the way. Peed and washed my hands after reaching Kaufland and just went in with that bread, getting a few things and having no problems with the self-checkout. Then I went to Carrefour, put everything except that bread in a cabinet, since that was clearly from Auchan and I just went in with it again… And apparently dad called just then and I somehow didn’t hear, or at least didn’t notice. It must have been either while I was arranging everything in one bag and placing that in the cabinet or just after I actually went into the store and a woman checked her phone right next to me when I heard one ring, so I assumed that it had been hers. Either way, instead of trying again he left a voice message, which I listened to right away… Learning that he had also bought some of those snacks for Liza from Kaufland, despite having left a note telling me to do that. And I had already been to Kaufland, so I had also bought some by then. But, to return to Carrefour, from there I bought some expiring eggs and, after seriously considering a pack of two cakes, eventually just added a pastry. And I used the self-checkout there as well, also without problems, since they finally added some that also accept cash in that location. Then I retrieved my things from the cabinet and got back just before 5 PM.
Saw something that looked like a small rash on the left side of my abdomen when I took my clothes off, and if it’d have been caused by clothes rubbing that area it should have probably gone away much faster than it did, so maybe some food had disagreed with me, which would also explain the bloating. Either way, I ate that sweet pastry, drank the other half of that Pepsi Max, and had lunch after my parents came, dad bringing mother, who stayed until the following day. Two pieces of steak were going bad, mold starting to appear on them, so I cleaned them as well as I could and ate them, splitting one with mother, finally washed after that, and later in the evening also had a small quantity of the peanuts brought by my mother. And my stomach seemed to deal with everything better than expected, the warnings it gave me at night not being too bad, despite eating that steak when something was probably already wrong. And, even though it was almost 1:15 AM when I went back to the kitchen, I managed to start eating dinner just before 3 AM, but it was a couple of minutes after 3:40 AM when I finished. And I only finally got in bed at 5:20 AM, even though I had woken up so early and hadn’t even tried to nap during the evening.

Since I mentioned the plants that are behind the building, in that area that’s surrounded by a fence, being cleared, before moving on to May 4 I’ll also mention that today, as I was writing the first part of this post, a guy mowed the small plants that were just behind the building, in front of the fence, so in the garden that was tended by the father of the guy living below us. At least the larger plants were left, and another guy was also there and seemed to give some instructions to the one doing the work, but while I can usually recognize this guy’s father, I don’t know him, so can’t say whether that was him or not. Either way, I can’t see why that carpet of smaller plants needed to be cleared.

To finally get to May 4, I couldn’t recover the sleep lost the day before. I did manage to get back to sleep after waking up just after 9 AM and also going to pee, though I guess that what actually woke me up was the noise made by the upstairs neighbor, who was probably cleaning. Around noon or just after that, however, when my mother also started, or continued, cleaning, I couldn’t get back to sleep again, so just before 12:45 PM I was up… And annoyed, obviously.
Since that morning I had also received the message that I could pick up the whisk I had ordered, I decided to do so that day. However, I was thinking to go out later, maybe in the evening, but mother kept annoying me, cleaning the litter box and taking a lot out, then giving Micky new food on top of the old one, and when I noticed and said that she’ll never eat the old one that way, she said she’s old and should just have what she likes. So I snapped, shouted, slammed doors, got dressed, just quickly ate a small apple, without talking to my parents anymore, since dad was also back by then, and it was a few minutes before 3 PM when I went out.
I had selected to pick up that whisk from that store’s location from the mall from the park, so I first grabbed a few things from that Carrefour and then started searching for that store. I initially tried to use the displays, but some didn’t work properly and it didn’t show up on a search even when there didn’t seem to be any technical problem, so I eventually started to just walk around and finally found it that way. Then I picked up the whisk, which they had placed in a box that seemed too large and, as I found when I sat on a bench and opened said box, wrapped in a lot of bubble wrap.
After walking out of that mall, I also checked a pet store from that farmers’ market, looking for cat litter, since mother had ensured that we were going to run out sooner, but I couldn’t find the kind I wanted, so I looked around a little and ended up getting some cheese from another store from there. Then I got back a couple of minutes after 5 PM, being relieved that my parents had left by then, took a quick shower, ate the sweet pastry bought from Carrefour and some more of those peanuts, which they had left here, and an orange, and in the evening made mamaliga, using the new whisk.

The plan was to also include May 5 in this post, to start the one about the half marathon with the evening of May 7, when I was getting ready, but with nothing else posted this week, I need to post it today, which means finishing it not before midnight but before 10 PM, when the final of this year’s Eurovision starts. And since the week’s second post will be about that, it’d be weird to first post that and then edit this in order to add that remaining day. Plus that on May 5 I picked up the race kit, so that day can also be said to be directly related to the half marathon and I can include it without that post becoming too long, so that’s what I mean to do… The problem being that I didn’t even write notes about the actual run, and after getting back here that afternoon I noticed that I had already forgotten many of the times, since I had been too certain that I won’t forget them and hadn’t written them down after finishing, so I wonder how much I’ll be able to write from memory and how accurate even what I will write will be when I’ll finally get around to it. And that’s frustrating, seeing as the time makes this my most important run yet, or at least my most important half marathon.

Since I’m getting ready for the half marathon and need a quick post, it’s probably a good time to mention a question which has been on my mind recently: Are there any sports that are moving towards endurance? Because all I’ve been seeing for quite a number of years is this infuriating move towards shorter, faster events, reducing or even eliminating the element of endurance. I previously posted my views about this happening in tennis, and how it makes me lose just about all interest in it, but what made me think about it again these days was happening to see some articles about the changes to the modern pentathlon. Not that I ever cared about that discipline, didn’t even know what it was about until now, but I just happened to see some articles and it reminded me of the process and how infuriating it is.
In fact, since running is currently the first thing on my mind, I’m starting to wonder whether the marathon, in itself, as an event, isn’t also at risk. I mean, the 50 km walk was already scrapped, and while you can’t compare the two when it comes to the level of interest and significance, it doesn’t seem unreasonable or an exaggeration to think that there are real reasons for concern… Among which you can add the fact that a number of events, including the long distances, were supposed to be scrapped by the Diamond League as well, and if that decision was mostly reversed, the changes to the format, also aimed at compressing and rushing the events, remain in place.
So, I repeat my question: Are there any sports going in the opposite direction, towards longer events, emphasizing endurance and long-term planning… And, yes, also demanding a longer attendion span from the spectators? At this point, I might even start getting interested in them if I’d learn that they exist…

Biden’s “we had a horrible plague, followed by two years of Covid” quip and the current revelations about one major element of Trump’s legacy seeming about to make its effects felt in a terrible way made me spare more than a passing thought to how much of a relief it is that Trump isn’t still in office, and wasn’t when Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. I mean, with that guy there, it seems unlikely that NATO would have done much of anything and doubtful that the US would have imposed significant sanctions, which would have also led to the EU shying away from doing much of anything. Perhaps even more notably, it’s unlikely that the intelligence services would have offered the aid that allowed Ukraine to counter the initial offensive so well… Or to foil the plans to assassinate Zelenskyy.
So Zelenskyy was likely to have been taken out right away and Ukraine would have likely fallen completely, probably followed by Moldova, the question being whether the Baltic states would have followed suit or they’d be shivering in terror and waiting for Putin’s move, despite the fact that they’re NATO members, which would put the very existence of NATO into question and prove to any and all powerful bad actors that they shouldn’t be deterred by it… The first other consequence of that likely being that China would have also made its move against Taiwan by now, or at least would be about to do so. And we’d probably also have very real reasons for concern here in Romania, along with a border with Russia by now. And instead of being about to join NATO, Sweden and Finland would have been likely to bow down to Russia even more, just hoping that keeping their heads low enough would prevent them from being chopped off. And I’m sure that the list could continue.
What a terrible prospect that is. Not that such a scenario couldn’t materialize even now, and not that NATO, the EU or the US are doing what they really should be doing in response to Russian aggression, but just thinking about how much worse things could have been… In a way, I wonder whether Putin’s plans weren’t delayed by COVID-19, if he didn’t intend to make use of that first horrible plague if the literal illness wouldn’t have started spreading across the globe, and also taking a heavy toll on Russia. But, either way, instead of merely being relieved that such a scenario was avoided, we must be fully aware that a similar one may yet become reality and truly do everything to prevent that from happening, now as well as in the future.