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Yoots to roots
Author Daniel Williams notes that several mainline pastors are running for Congress this year with a good chance of success. This hasn’t happened in many decades. From 1776 to 1946, nearly all politicians were mainline. Very few Catholics or Baptists or Jews. After WW2 the other religions moved into politics, crowding out the mainliners. Mainline…
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Same apocalypse, different investors
The AI demons show a casual and happy attitude toward technically driven apocalypse. They discuss 10% odds in the same way that a horse bookie discusses a 10 to 1 long shot. Bettors love the long shot, which is why tech demons and horse bookies chatter about it as foreplay. See bridge-jumper. New thought: We’ve…
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Keys and lips
1. Mechanical jargon is poorly represented in dictionaries. When I was working in printing and construction I tried to look up the terms we used and never found them in Websters. 2. We commonly attribute unpleasant things like diseases to other countries. Here’s a good example of both facts! From Reddit’s Road Signs section, a…
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Journalists = Sovereign citizens
Sovereign citizens spend HUGE amounts of time and effort “resisting” the legal system, using antiquated bits of law. (writs of replevin, admiralty law, etc) They never win. The legal system just hardens its attitude and the general public finds the legal system less obnoxious than the sovcits. Journalists spend HUGE amounts of time and effort…
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We need seeds
Writing about grain elevators made me think of seeds and seed storage. Plants know how to preserve their genes until good times return. Seeds are just alive enough to recognize the good times, and just dead enough to avoid wasting energy during the bad times. = = = = = Newspapers and low-frequency radio are…
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Ponca before oil
An odd Zillow listing triggered this tribute. Coldwell Banker is trying to sell the office building end of the old Robin Hood elevator in Ponca. Zillow: Rare opportunity to own a striking two story structure within a five story industrial building offering endless redevelopment potential. Envision multi unit apartments, townhomes, boutique hotel suites, creative offices,…
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Holding the territory
Congress is passing a very small law that could have a large effect on the Foy Rebellion, the return to analog skills. They passed a provision requiring car radios to keep the AM band. Why is this little piece of law important? A communication system needs both mouths and ears. From telegraph to telephone to…
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Excellent reporting.
The Spokesman has been doing an OUTSTANDING job on the arson epidemic. Today’s edition includes several long articles on the pattern here, the mind of serial arsonists, and the lack of proper laws. This map (scanned from print edition) tells most of the story. It’s only the city limits; many of the big fires in…
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Permanent characters
Evan Barker’s book is packed with inside info about the current characters in charge of “progressive” politics. Some of the activities are new to me. Politicians now spend most of their time and energy begging rich people for money, which doesn’t seem to accomplish anything. It’s not quid pro quo, it’s just endless quid. If…
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Not a joke!
There are lots of jokes about cursive as a secret code among oldsters. I figured the jokes were exaggerated. Surely it can’t be all that difficult? In the Reddit section on cursive, younger folks doing genealogy are unable to decipher old census records or birth certificates or recipes. Every one of them is instantly readable…
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Genes will tell
Back to Hudson because I feel like it. Hudson’s founding team in 1909 had the three necessary members: a salesman/visionary, an engineer, and a manager/beancounter. Roy Chapin was the salesman, Howard Coffin the engineer, and Roscoe Jackson the manager. Chapin and Coffin started the project, which moved quickly through several existing companies, picking up experience…
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Persistent songs
Cute meme: An ancient bench under a tree. The bench and ground are covered with green apples. Caption: Newton’s Bench. Instantly my internal jukebox started playing My name is Crabby Appleton, I’m rotten to the core. Wait, who was he? Oh, he was the villain in I’m Tom Terrific, greatest hero ever! I hadn’t seen…
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Manweller is gravity
Manweller’s Rule: “Elections” are not allowed to change things. A candidate who threatens to change things will be eliminated, usually well before the “election.” A referendum that threatens to change things will be eliminated after the people have vainly “voted” for it. Today’s example: Two years ago a referendum to protect natural gas from the…
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Who was the Mustang?
Back in hippie days I once attended a lecture by Dick Gregory. He said Detroit got around to improving conditions for blacks after “the fire got too close to their Mustangs.” Something similar seems to be happening here. The “city” dysgoverment was strongly encouraging and cultivating crime and homelessness, letting the poor overworked police catch…
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IRCs not quite dead.
I thought IRCs were phased out in 2013 but apparently the PO delayed the deadline until the end of this year. This Reddit item shows a ticket for 525 one-cent coupons and 7 “Jimmy Carter” stamps at 82 cents each. (The Carter stamps are new, not related to IRCs.) Some of the USPS employees at…
Polistra's Mill
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