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Yahoooo!
Nice comeback story via Verge! = = = = = START QUOTE: It’s basically impossible to sum up the Yahoo story, but the short version of it is that a long time ago Yahoo paid Google to run the search box on its website, and basically everything has gone sideways since. After a long series…
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Language joke
This is a bit unfair but it gave me a much needed laugh on a hard day. 99 in French is quatre-vingt dix neuf, which translates as “We do not have a functional numbering system.”
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A better silly idea
Another silly idea from Andrew Yang. He says that Demon Amodei, head of Anthropic, wants his demonic company to pay more taxes. Demon Amodei suggests a 3% surcharge on revenue. Yang says this tax could be used to fund his biggest silly idea, Universal Basic Income. A better silly idea is a tariff on products…
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Harding reprint
Trying to recharge my courage after a hard week. Two windstorms and a snowstorm, lost sleep, no progress on a tangled courseware problem. Reprinted from March 2020, Harding’s commentary on the condition of the world in 1920. Still magnificent. Audio and transcript are here. = = = = = START MAGNIFICENT SPEECH: My countrymen, there…
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Who are the customers?
The most basic question about any organization is: Who are the customers? In a small or midsized business the answer is straightforward. Customers are the people who pay for the product or service. A business that wants to succeed must please its customers. Simple closed feedback loop. For larger organizations the obvious answer is usually…
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π Day
Keeping up a tradition… π Day again! Since I’m talking typography lately, I’ll hash and rehash a couple items from 2019. = = = = = Thinking about Trump as Pied Piper. When the metaphor first appeared in those DNC emails I didn’t quite understand it. After learning that Trump is Roy Cohn’s protege, I…
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New automotive feature
Car dreams aren’t rare. Many of the items on my bedtime playlist are auto dealer films with tech details about cubic inches and suspensions. Those details inevitably leak into dreams. In this morning’s dream I was trying out a very specific car, a ’66 Plymouth Belvedere wagon, like this except dark blue: My wife [who…
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Good for Spain!
A Spanish company and an Italian company have teamed up to help Venezuela maintain and expand its petroleum production. It’s good to see Spain playing its old role as genuine neutral. It joined the Sorosian crowd for a while after 2017. Spain and Portugal, formerly huge imperialists, learned a lesson and stayed out of the…
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Used to be called 2
Via Nieman, a survey of journalists in Austria has one interesting conclusion. It’s correct for USA, but I don’t know Austria so can’t judge if it’s correct there. This paragraph is phrased in the alien language of journalists. It needs some translation into human thought patterns. = = = = = START QUOTE: Meanwhile, perceptions…
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Used to be called 1
Via Protos, the big digital betting casinos like Kalshi and Polymarket are making profits from bets on assassinations. Some of the bets are phrased indirectly, but everyone knows what it means. You win when a politician is killed. It appears that many of the bettors are politicians with an obvious motive. Before the Wall Street…
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Life in the Cracks Day (reprint)
From the National Days website: The Festival of Life in the Cracks Day on March 10 celebrates the sprouting of greenery in the cracks of sidewalks and walls to commemorate the coming of springtime. This annual event acknowledges the complexity of the cycle of life and how renewal and rebirth are integral parts of it.…
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Positive signs from the neighborhood (redated)
Jan 13, 2026: For 20 years a vacant apartment building was the worst thing in the neighborhood, constantly squatted and constantly visited by cops who weren’t allowed to do anything. This situation was NOT understandable. The property was owned by an LLC who could afford to fix things if they wanted to. In 2017 the…
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Earbird 2
Taking out the trash this morning, I brushed against the overgrown windbreak. As usual, thought I should try to trim it back. Suddenly noticed I was face to face with a TINY bird in the branches. He didn’t seem bothered by the closeness, just continued walking along the branch. TINY: less than two inches long…
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Is it the Silk Road?
I’ve been wondering why China hasn’t responded to our evil attacks on Venezuela and Persia, two of China’s biggest suppliers. Possible answer from Lile Mo, who is writing a long series of explainers on China’s complex strategy. The internal parts are identical to the New Deal as narrated by Lilienthal of the TVA. The external…
Polistra's Mill
Be your own beacon.
Polistra's Mill 