%%Post image thumbnail below.%%  # Episode Overview > - **Date Aired:** [[09-28-2023]] > - **Title:** The Duck Test > - **Episode:** 246 > - **Description:** "If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck." > - **Link:** https://rumble.com/v3lp4ae-big-dig-energy-246-the-duck-test.html # Replay %% Get embed URL then highlight and hit ALT + I%% <iframe src="https://rumble.com/embed/v3j3q9w/?pub=6eeyh" allow="fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" style="height:100%;width:100%; aspect-ratio: 16 / 9; "></iframe> <br> # Greetings & Announcements 1. On Sunday, ([[10/01/2023]]) I will be on [SimpCast](https://www.youtube.com/@ChrissieMayr/featured) with [Chrissie Mayr](https://twitter.com/ChrissieMayr) and the gang, starting at 9/8c. 2. I know it's a month away, but I do plan on doing something fun for Halloween like we did a couple of years ago… and Halloween lands on a Chewsday, so it's perfect! # Segments ## Rest in Peace Michael Gambon <center><b>10-19-1940</b> — <b>09-28-2023</b> </center> <center>"To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure." </center> <center> - <i>Albus Dumbledore</i></center>  "We are devastated to announce the loss of Sir Michael Gambon," a statement from his family said. "Beloved husband and father, Michael died peacefully in hospital with his wife Anne and son Fergus at his bedside, following a bout of pneumonia. Michael was 82. We ask that you respect our privacy at this painful time, and thank you for your messages of support and love." ## The Duck Test In the last few decades of the 1800s, a man named [Charles Sanders Peirce](https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Charles_Sanders_Peirce) was in his prime, contributing his thoughts to the world of science and math and philosophy. Pierce is widely credited with the development of a form of logical inference known as "abductive reasoning" — which seeks the simplest and most likely conclusion from a set of observations.  The Duck Test is a form of abductive reasoning, which is likely familiar to you. It's almost cliche in modern times, but the saying goes: "If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck."  There is another form of animal-related "tests" known as the Elephant Test. This refers to situations in which an idea or thing, "is hard to describe, but instantly recognizable when spotted". Last night during the GOP debate, Chris Christie may have been trying to convince people he is an equivalent to Charles Sanders Pierce when he attempted to give [[Donald Trump]] a new nickname: Donald... Duck.  And to make matters even more laughable, he (or someone on his social media team) decided to [double down](https://archive.ph/lNtp0) on it immediately after on Twitter:  So, yeah. And no, I didn't watch the debate because I watched Flash Gordon instead and don't regret it for a single second. Meme collection from [around Twitter](https://archive.ph/20230928165758/https://twitchy.com/justmindy/2023/09/28/for-fun-best-memes-from-debate-night-n2387874). ## Ukraine Needs Gas Money If you have been relatively checked out of politics (I don't blame you), you should know that a government shutdown is looming, and the drama surrounding it is getting intense. Every year, the House and the Senate must pass a dozen or so spending bills that allocate funds to various government programs and agencies. When they cannot reach an agreement, the government instead "[shuts down](http://archive.today/WoXQ8)." Of course, the messaging has [devolved into](https://archive.ph/1oRZm) "Republicans don't care about Americans or the military," but the overwhelming consensus in the court of public opinion is something else.  I wrote on Twitter [yesterday](https://archive.ph/rUB8G): "They are desperate to avoid a shutdown because the spectacle of continuing money flow to Ukraine while Americans get nothing will be hard to overcome. Shut. It. Down. It’s the equivalent of steering into the skid while hydroplaning to get out of it." Well, leave it to [[NBC News]] to not mince words. They dropped this [banger of a tweet](https://archive.ph/Ni2Jx) earlier today, accompanied by an [article](https://archive.ph/1UiTf):  From NBC News: > The looming federal shutdown is being felt in Kyiv, some 5,000 miles east of Washington, as a potential disruption of crucial American aid and argument over whether to support Ukraine at all has heightened concerns ahead of next year’s U.S. presidential election. > > For Ukraine, a U.S. government shutdown “would be an unpleasant development, to say the least,” said Oleksandr Kraiev, a United States foreign policy expert at the Ukrainian think tank Prism who provides consultancy for the government in Kyiv. While the impasse might not present an immediate catastrophe for the Ukrainian military in its war with Russia, this “budgetary skirmish” could be a small dose of what’s to come. > > “We’re having some kind of renaissance right now,” Kraiev said. “It’s not just the hard-line Republicans, but also the progressive Democrats, who are getting more and more against foreign involvement.” [Continue here](https://archive.ph/1UiTf#selection-1625.0-1629.118). Authors:  Alexander Smith [Twitter](https://twitter.com/AlexanderSmith), [Website](https://www.alexander-smith.com/), and [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-smith-88a6a930/). Artem Gudinin [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/artem-grudinin-7b286858/?originalSubdomain=ua), archived [biography](https://web.archive.org/web/20211117121036/https://cms.law/en/ukr/people/artem-grudinin) for CMS Ukraine.  Daryna Mayer [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/daryna-mayer-b77293188/?originalSubdomain=ua), [Twitter](https://twitter.com/MayerDaryna). ## Twitter & Free Speech  %%Footer Starts Here%% ---  --- # Keep Digging %%Space%% ## Tags #Stream/BDE ### Footnotes & References