Author: polistra
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The main point
I was looking through this catalog of the 1887 Paris Exhibition, trying to find new gadgets as usual. No new gadgets, but a good lesson in the PURPOSE of industrial policy and tariffs. The book includes 90 pages of excruciatingly detailed French tariff regulations. Why? Because Exhibitions were sponsored by governments to bring in new…
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Wrong foot
The prosecution in Sammy’s trial started out with an immediate error. Their first witness was a commodities trader specializing in cocoa beans. He put 100k into Sammy’s swindle and then was SHOCKEDSHOCKEDSHOCKED that the 100k disappeared. This plays right into the defense argument that the suckers should have known better. The argument isn’t valid for…
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The usual Shocked
From NewSuperstitionist: = = = = = START QUOTE: People’s likelihood of being vegetarian seems to be influenced by several gene variants, including some that are involved in fat metabolism. This hints that some people may find it easier to give up meat. An analysis of data in the UK Biobank has covered about 5300…
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Evolve = Devolve
Mattingly discusses the “supply chain” problem in many modern churches… = = = = = START QUOTE: Long ago, the Rt. Rev. C. FitzSimons Allison was a bishop in good standing in the Episcopal Church. A year ago, however, he resigned — at the age of 95 — to serve in the Anglican Church in…
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As predicted
A year ago I noted that Michael Lewis was writing a book on Sammy. = = = = = START REPRINT: Lewis is famous for The Big Short about the 2008 “crisis”, and he also wrote a disgusting celebration of the 2020 “virus” genocide, hymning the godlike virtues of Demon Fauci and Demon Mecher. Ankler…
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Mammary grammary
The internal evidence of language has always implied that our brains have separate ways of processing One, Two, Three, Four, Many. Languages have basic words or grammatical forms for 1 2 3 and sometimes 4. Beyond 4, the later developed numbers take over, but without any grammatical connections. A new study firms up the brain…
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Resonates
When I was doing a series on cipher machines I used a 1917 article on ciphering as a source. The article was in Everybody’s Magazine, a popular literary and cultural mag that’s now forgotten. The same volume included a huge pile of anti-German propaganda, which was required by Wilson’s Deepstate to sustain our participation in…
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Recognizing superior talent
I used to be a clever procrastinator. I could dream up all sorts of “reasons” for not doing a task. I gave up the habit about 20 years ago. Now I do the hard dull stuff first because it frees me to do creative and productive things with no threat darkening the horizon. When I…
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Right culprit, wrong reason
Rushfield writes an extended lament over the parallel collapse of Hollywood and the country. He blames the Boomers for causing the problems. He’s right about the guilt but not about the reason for the guilt. Technical change is NOT INEVITABLE. It’s not gravity or weather. Technical change is a HUMAN DECISION, and in the current…
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Pointless gripe
Old radio announcers were carefully trained to provide clarity in the spoken word. They took pains to distinguish names or words that sounded the same. Modern announcers and podcasters didn’t learn the craft. It’s glaringly obvious in the coverage of Sammy’s trial. They routinely and consistently say SBF and FTX and FTT and FTC and…
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Reprint from Nov 17, 2016
Linked in previous, worth a reprint. The date is important because it proves that Trump’s true nature was visible even before the inauguration. = = = = = START REPRINT: I’m still impressed by the fireworks aimed at a shimmering hologram of “Trump”. The hologram is talking about changing the status quo, and the forces…
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Not astonishing at all
Via DailyMail: Trump lied about abortion, lied about “woke” stuff, and thinks people who live for any purpose except glorifying Trump are suckers and losers. Supposedly this is “astonishing”. No need for secret revelations. All of this was perfectly obvious during the 2016 scampaign. Most of it was obvious from Trump’s life history. He was…
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Nice salute to country papers
American Radio Library added a station album from WTAQ in Green Bay. Most albums are predictable, with a selection of station employees pretending to work, plus a selection of famous network personalities. This one is different. It includes short features on several small towns served by WTAQ. Normally a feature on a small town would…
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The magic lantern oscilloscope
I bumped into this item sideways. I was looking at a peculiar early typewriter designed by Wheatstone. Since I’m addicted to Wheatstone I tried to animate it, but it was poorly described and pictured. The article noted that it was built by a Mr Pickler, so I started looking in that direction for more info.…
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Why is this controversial?
Bloomberg analyzes some important cases for this year’s Supremes. They consistenly treat “adhering to the written law” as far far far far ultra ultra right fascist, and treat “ignoring written law” as moderate and centrist. In ANY OTHER CONTEXT, following the written law would be the automatic default, and ignoring the written law would be…
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