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More “communism” from China
A LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time ago I got tired of “Red China” and “Communist China”. Most Repooflicans still use those nonsensical phrases. China is VASTLY more capitalist than we are. Chinese industry wants profit and products, not Share Value. They recognize, as Henry Ford did, that profit comes from treating workers and customers decently. Share Value comes…
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Deepstatized
Last month I heard, with great relief, that the ADA mandate was suddenly being extended for a year. I heard about the reprieve from the coauthor who had heard it on NPR. Last year I heard about the clampdown indirectly and MANY MONTHS LATE, when one professor asked the publisher if her books were going…
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Three differences
Riddle posted by a Brit: Q: What do you call a group of men waiting for a haircut? A: A barbercue. This doesn’t work in American English for THREE reasons, not just one. 1. We call a waiting group a line, not a queue. 2. We pronounce the last r in barber. 3. We pronounce…
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Tyndale 500th
This spring is the 500th anniversary of William Tyndale’s bible. Working in and around language I often heard that Tyndale published the first vernacular English bible, but I never bothered to look up the whole story. The latest print edition of History Today tells the story with appropriate drama. He studied and wrote for ten…
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Not disappointed, disappointed
Keeping up with developments in the world of bitcoin fraud. = = = = = = (1) Not disappointed in Judge Kaplan: Via Arstechnica, Sammy Bankman filed an appeal for a new trial, and Judge Kaplan sternly refused. Before he was busted, Sammy was feeding both political pigs, following the standard billionaire script at the…
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What’s missing in blockball
A new thought about the nasty social media algorithms. If you’re paying attention you know most of them are NOT echo chambers. Most of them give you less of what you like and more of what you hate. (There are exceptions.) I’ve noticed that blocking and reporting the DULL REPETITIVE CRAP is sort of satisfying,…
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Missing the main point as always
Via RealClear, a sane and sensible article on school homework in math classes. Education is all about fads and fashions. Trends come and go, but parents consistently hate homework and cheer when a school abandons it. The article says it’s hard to quantify whether homework helps. Naturally mathy types get good grades without spending time…
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Pretty good ideas!
This is a good set of proposals to rein in AI through old-fashioned copyright and licensing methods … with one exception. The article summarizes a longer report by Center for Journalism and Liberty. It defines the problem: = = = = = START QUOTE: A three-tiered market: a small number of large bilateral deals between…
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Seems just a bit unbalanced
Billions of normal law-abiding people suffer through spy-grade security checks to pay bills or read websites. Meanwhile, three separate shooters have taken potshots at the president, who supposedly has the best protection in the world. Most likely all of them were staged, for reasons we’ll never know. Were they staged to INSTRUCT us that we’re…
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Who’s smarter?
While we screech and quarrel about the latest incremental improvement in computer predictive algorithms, a lot of DRAMATIC discoveries are happening in microbiology and neurology with very little attention. One 2022 finding in microbiology was far more earthshaking than the latest increment in computers. Our official “philosophers” are pushing the curve in the other direction…
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Maybe an idea
Printing and bookbinding should try harder to compete with online. Some books do a good job of staying flat, some don’t. The two books I bought last week are examples of good and bad. Good: Hudson book. Sewn signatures, wide pages. It fits in my bookholder and lays flat without constant active intervention. It’s passive.…
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Figured it out again
Just recognized something AGAIN after forgetting it for many years. Fools constantly instruct us that social media is an echo chamber. This is brazenly and grossly false. Social platforms DO NOT give you more of what you like. They explicitly and persistently slam you with more of what you hate. The goal is to maximize…
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Makeforce reprint
Partial reprint from April 2019, a year before the chaotizers committed the biggest crime in history. = = = = = START REPRINT: Resistance is futile, but self-defense is not futile. First and most directly, don’t merge with the Cloud. Don’t take that last step, don’t place your devices into Elon’s hands. More subtly, use…
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Rare charge
Interesting because rare: A gambler was charged with cheating for using a “vibrating device” to manipulate a slot machine. Charges of cheating are surprisingly rare (less than one per year) considering that two casinos are a major industry here. I suppose casinos take care of cheaters in their own way with heavy surveillance and internal…
Polistra's Mill
Be your own beacon.
Polistra's Mill 