Author: polistra
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When everything is political
Via Protos: A spa in Brooklyn is using the heat from bitcoin “mining” rigs to heat the water. Smart industries have ALWAYS found ways to reuse waste products and waste heat. Well-made machines do the same. Car engines use exhaust heat to pressurize the inlet oxygen. Locomotives use a diesel engine to run a generator…
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What were they smoking?
This year I’m trying to regain my analog world after the NAZI TORTURE CAMP is done for a while. Taking more walks and longer walks, looking at blocks I haven’t seen in years. Today I noticed a house for sale, fairly rare this year. It’s an ordinary ranch type, renovated by NVest. The renovation includes…
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1000 = 2000 complete.
Elon challenged Zuck to a duel and Zuck accepted. We’re now fully and officially back in 1000 AD, when feudal barons fought physically and led their troops on horseback. Henry VIII once wrestled the King of France in a similar semi-jocular fight, complete with allegedly special moves. One day, as the story goes, an enthusiastic…
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The artist as psychopath
Everyone knows that modern “artists” are evil. They believe the purpose of art is to create chaos and murder and pain and mayhem. Beautiful example. Christopher Nolan has claimed that early viewers of Oppenheimer have left the film ‘devastated’ and ‘unable to speak’. In his demonic eyes this is a good thing. Peasants must be…
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T Phlps cd
American Radio Library has started a section for Telegraph Age, a long-lasting magazine that ended up as Communications News. A 1903 issue includes several glowing praises for the Phillips Code, which I hadn’t heard of before. It was common among newsmen, and was apparently equal in speed to Pitman or Gregg shorthand. True shorthand is…
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Using motion as a sense
This is fascinating! Nematodes charge their bodies to jump by repulsion. They seem to use a bee’s self-created charge as an attraction in the other direction! = = = = = START QUOTE: When some nematode species jump, they tend to bend their body and change their posture before take-off, but C. elegans worms stand…
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Robber barons on strike
We have a nice clear contrast between two strikes currently underway. The Hollywood writers are striking for classic and understandable labor reasons. Too much unpaid work and AI threats to skill-estate. They may have picked the wrong TIME for a strike, since the directors and actors unions have already gained new contracts without striking. But…
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Had me at “parole”…
Nikki Haley got another donation from me. She’s hopelessly hawkish on war, but she accomplshed ALL the right things as governor of SC. In a speech she mentioned that SC had been reliant on textiles, and collapsed when our robber barons sent textiles to China. She got revenge by attracting factories from Japanese and German…
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Mass mechviews
This blog is getting a HUGE number of obviously mechanical “views” today. Most of them are “seeing” the previous item on Campbells Soup, which is not politically or culturally interesting in any way. Normally such items are carefully AVOIDED by all real viewers. All are coming through Oracle Cloud, all are clearly timed at regular…
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Where the ice goes
[Redated after several addendums…] I’ve got a brief break in courseware, so decided to do some ‘fun’ graphics. The Ice Plant piece earlier this year didn’t include the destination of the ice. So here’s a condensed version of the original set, with the destination added on. = = = = = How did the ice…
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More techtonic shifting!
Elon jumps around too much, but occasionally he comes down to the ground with a firm command. Today he declared that Twitterites who use cis as an insult will be treated as bullies and harassers, just like people who use nigger as an insult. This is a major shift in the techtonic plates! Eunuchs and…
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Centennial soup
Campbell’s no longer makes Printanier soup, but it does still make Vegetable in beef stock, and I eat it all the time. It’s especially nice on a coldish June day like today, 50 degrees with rain. This summer is a reward for two previous hot ones. From a 1922 Ladies Home Journal: The only influencer…
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YAVO 2
Detroit learned the Bud Light lesson heavily in ’57 to ’60. Executives, drunk with complacency and EXTREMELY drunk on actual martinis, decided to leave their dull boring customers behind. GM got rid of Buick’s portholes, then got rid of its traditional brand distinctions entirely. Ford dropped its beloved circular taillights. Chrysler got rid of quality…
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Yet Another Vague Observation (YAVO)
One of Kirn’s commenters was recommending the All-In Podcast as a relatively non-partisan source. I tried listening to an episode and turned it off after 20 seconds. These are RICH FUCKHEADS of the tech-tyrant species. They were apparently joshing each other in Bro Style, talking about ??doing?? some ??things?? and ??going?? to some ??places??. Every…
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Vague observation on usefulness
My courseware work is sort of half-time by average. 1. I put in roughly one year of fulltime work on a new version. 2. Then I sit back and let the royalties roll in for one or sometimes two years. This provides a constants/variables observation for my feelings when actually working and completing stuff versus…
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