Omicrons (B.1.1.529) most recent common ancestor is AV.1. Relative to this MRCA, Omicron has 25 nonsynonymous and 1 synonymous mutation in Spike, and 13 nonsynonymous and 6 synonymous mutations in the entire rest of the genome. This is very strange & I don't understand.

I have re-done the alignments and counting up of mutations, and it's even weirder than i first said.
34 discontinuous changes (that are likely independent events). only one of them is silent. the rest change amino acid. see attached pictures. to quote @K_G_Andersen this is inconsistent with expectations from standard evolutionary theory.
this is just bonkers. there should be a butt-tonne of other silent passenger mutations hitching a ride with nonsynonymous changes under positive selective pressure. i am not invoking a sinister lab engineering event here, just something important that i do not know.
Spike is 3819 coding nucleotides. It has 33 NS and 1 S changes. The neighboring ORF3A-E-M-ORF6-ORF7A-ORF8-N-ORF10 genes have 4000 coding nucleotides. They have eight NS and three S changes. Spike is smaller and has four times the NS changes.

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I just finished Eric Adler's The Battle of the Classics, and wanted to say something about Joel Christiansen's review linked below. I am not sure what motivates the review (I speculate a bit below), but it gives a very misleading impression of the book. 1/x


The meat of the criticism is that the history Adler gives is insufficiently critical. Adler describes a few figures who had a great influence on how the modern US university was formed. It's certainly critical: it focuses on the social Darwinism of these figures. 2/x

Other insinuations and suggestions in the review seem wildly off the mark, distorted, or inappropriate-- for example, that the book is clickbaity (it is scholarly) or conservative (hardly) or connected to the events at the Capitol (give me a break). 3/x

The core question: in what sense is classics inherently racist? Classics is old. On Adler's account, it begins in ancient Rome and is revived in the Renaissance. Slavery (Christiansen's primary concern) is also very old. Let's say classics is an education for slaveowners. 4/x

It's worth remembering that literacy itself is elite throughout most of this history. Literacy is, then, also the education of slaveowners. We can honor oral and musical traditions without denying that literacy is, generally, good. 5/x
1/ Here’s a list of conversational frameworks I’ve picked up that have been helpful.

Please add your own.

2/ The Magic Question: "What would need to be true for you


3/ On evaluating where someone’s head is at regarding a topic they are being wishy-washy about or delaying.

“Gun to the head—what would you decide now?”

“Fast forward 6 months after your sabbatical--how would you decide: what criteria is most important to you?”

4/ Other Q’s re: decisions:

“Putting aside a list of pros/cons, what’s the *one* reason you’re doing this?” “Why is that the most important reason?”

“What’s end-game here?”

“What does success look like in a world where you pick that path?”

5/ When listening, after empathizing, and wanting to help them make their own decisions without imposing your world view:

“What would the best version of yourself do”?
I think a plausible explanation is that whatever Corbyn says or does, his critics will denounce - no matter how much hypocrisy it necessitates.


Corbyn opposes the exploitation of foreign sweatshop-workers - Labour MPs complain he's like Nigel

He speaks up in defence of migrants - Labour MPs whinge that he's not listening to the public's very real concerns about immigration:

He's wrong to prioritise Labour Party members over the public:

He's wrong to prioritise the public over Labour Party