Author: polistra
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Parkinson didn’t foresee
Both houses of Congress have been purposeless for a LONG time, but they lost their purpose in unusual ways. As documented by Parkinson, an agency or organization starts out with a meaningful goal, assigned to solve a real problem. Parkinson saw two alternate paths to triviality: (1) The agency or organization solves the real problem…
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Metrology Day 2023
Today is Metrology Day. The latest edition of courseware is in the final stretch so I don’t have any spare graphics energy or time. I’ll reprint a frequent reprint on a topic that seems appropriate at the moment, using metrology as a bullshit detector. = = = = = TRYING A QUESTION. In late 2020…
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Force means freedom
Speaking of bridges and balances: Freedom requires opposing forces and opposing blackmails. “Rights” do not exist, and even if they did exist, court decisions on “rights” have never given real autonomy to low-class or low-status people. Organized unified force is the only way to control demons. Active unions, willing to engage in violence and blackmail,…
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Fake problem
It’s an interesting question technically and legally. Clearly a state can’t regulate speech and press on its own. 1st amendment + 14th amendment. Federal only. A state can’t ban imports on its own. Federal only. At the national level, our government has no obligation to import anything at all. The original “constitution” was excruciatingly clear…
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Missed prophecy
Walker Percy missed a chance to add yet one more Joycean prophetic note to ‘Love in the Ruins’, the precise dystopian prediction of 2020. His Satan character was named Immermann, which hologrammed between The Forever Man or Always A Man, with a secondary echo of the Immelmann Loop rule-changer. Immermann seemed to misunderstand earthlings in…
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Clarifier
From the Ankler’s latest summary of entertainment news: = = = = = START QUOTE: Iger called off plans to relocate around 1,000 employees from CA to FL, and spend around $1 Billion for a new campus in Lake Nona, FL as the home for 2,000 new FL jobs. The 200 or so DISNEY employees…
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Dove stops the itch
Latest from Kirn: None of the myriad products being boycotted now are products I buy anyway. It’s as though I knew something, but I wonder what it was. Avoid all goods that are heavily advertised? I suppose it was this. Yup. I feel the same itch. Living a simple life means (1) I don’t buy…
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He says what I say
Arthur Brooks gives the best possible job advice. This is especially important for Uncool people who are NOT going to get satisfaction from the social side of life. Brooks emphasizes COMPLETION: = = = = = START QUOTE: “Maybe you’ll work in your major — probably not. Maybe you’ll land your dream job — probably…
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Still around!
Rambling through Rumble, looking for something that isn’t Trump cult, surprised by this. I used to watch Gene Scott on UHF TV in the early ’80s. He was a weird Christian cult leader who seemed to have a master-slave relationship with his acolytes. He always wore about 7 hats at the same time and smoked…
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Da yoots GET IT.
Poll gave yoots a choice of losing social media or losing “voting” “rights”. They’d rather lose “voting” “rights”. This is a good sign. They’re full Machiavelli. They’ve figured out that “voting” is utterly pointless. = = = = = Looking more closely at the poll article, it gets even better. Is astrology a science? Is…
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Not silly
Meme seen on Reddit: I don’t procrastinate. I wait till the last minute because then I will be older and wiser. Sounds silly but actually makes sense if you’re putting off a decision. It doesn’t make sense if you’re putting off a routine chore that has to be done whether you’re wise or not. Doris…
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More sanity from Lawyer Stevens
Lawyer Richard Stevens writes another splendidly clear article on AI and lawsuits. As I’ve noted before, it’s not mysterious. AI is a tool. When a tool is designed to cause damage or death, the MAKER of the tool is responsible. AI is designed to cause libel and damage and death. It’s advertised as a game-like…
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Speaking of delusional demons…
Sam Altman, the supermonstrous demon who is stealing all jobs and all skills through ChatGPT and Dall-E, is starting up a new world-destroying syndicate. He wants to own all of our eyeball identifying data, and he is paying with Magic Money Dust. So far this crime syndicate isn’t gaining nearly as much traction as the…
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Wonderful concept!
John Herrmann describes most of the tech tyranny as executive fantasies. = = = = = START QUOTE: Changing Facebook’s name to Meta was a bold attempt not just to rebrand a company but to set an industry agenda, and while it ultimately failed, it sort of worked, for a while. One question worth dwelling…
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Headline better than article
An interesting headline: Oral tradition is not corrupted over time. I tried reading the article, but it’s written like a catechism and seems to be splitting fine logical points. The headline itself is worth expanding. We’re accustomed to outsourcing our memory to written words. We don’t have the experience of maintaining a text through speech…
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