Author: polistra
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When was the line?
Listening to these auto history podcasts adds a new dimension to one of my standard themes. I’ve often hammered the Big Point that our blockades and sanctions help the target country to develop its own skills. Blockades hurt ordinary Americans by depriving our industries of export revenue, and raising the prices of needed imports like…
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Great talk, not much action
Speaking of honest and dishonest… Bernie is rigorously honest in this speech. He pulls us away from all the Machiavellian fake disputes and nonsense and gossip that politicians and journalists deluge us with. He gets down to plain facts in a way that FDR and Henry Wallace would understand and appreciate. Unfortunately Bernie failed to…
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Punchline and exceptions
Old punchline: “Okay, now we know what you are. Let’s negotiate.” It’s an important truth. When you’re honest about your purpose, I can deal with you properly. I know what you want and how you intend to get there. Some jobs are always honest. Car salesmen want to sell you a car. Plumbers want to…
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It was all about SKILL.
Lately I’ve been watching this Youtube channel. The author grew up in the Soviet Union and knows how it REALLY worked, not our perpetual propaganda. He brings out the SKILL-oriented nature of Soviet economic policy in the automotive area. I’ve seen this focus on SKILL before in electronics and education. In this clip on the…
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Sorting out
Spokane News asked if people feel safe downtown. Sorting out the usual FB cacophony: People who are accustomed to dealing with violence feel safe there. Others don’t feel safe. There’s a GENUINE change in the last few years. I’m not tough at all, but I used to enjoy being downtown. I worked downtown in the…
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I’m simple.
I’m basically a primitive invertebrate with one organ. Good dump = good day. Bad dump = bad day. Always true to some extent, gets truer as I get older.
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Speaking of Gaian suckers…..
Via RealClear: Biologists in Texas have found a rare crossbreed of a bluejay and a greenjay. The two species aren’t as closely related as their names would imply, but they can crossbreed. Instead of simply finding the cross interesting and unusual, the UTexas biologists had to invoke “climate emergency” as the Universal Cause Of Everything.…
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Oldest sucker filter
A preacher has predicted that the Rapture will occur tomorrow, 9/23. Raptures and apocalypses are unquestionably the oldest Sucker Filter, the oldest tool for selecting the most gullible followers. Every single one has failed. Often a prophet will “revise” the rapture several times in a row. Each failure and revision sorts the suckers at a…
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Sign of sanity
Reported in an official newsletter. While most of “congress” plays its usual pointless symbol games with nonexistent “debt ceilings” and nonexistent “shutdowns,” some reps in BOTH parties are organizing to protect and improve the Post Office. They’re concerned that the previous ‘Delivering For America’ agenda is leading to more delays and more costs, not better…
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First sighting!
Found in the Engrish area of Reddit. First sighting anywhere on the net! Ðe original instructions are in ICELANDIC, and ðe English translation is dubious. Icelandic never appears on ðe web. Ðe letters shared wiþ Anglo-Saxon make it stand out immediately. Later, I guess the rarity makes sense numerically. Iceland’s population is 400k, about the…
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Back to unsurprising again
In July I noted a slight bit of apparent action by the insane “city”. Some REAL people, ie people named Cowles, finally got tired enough to make the “city” take a tiny bit of apparent action. I wrote: = = = = = START REPRINT: I’ve been thoroughly bashing the “city” of Spokane for ENCOURAGING…
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Canada should learn from Canada
This new video tells about Canada’s profitable importing of Ladas in the ’80s. At that time USA was, as always, invading and blockading Russia for no reason except our own monstrous drive to destroy everything good and decent. Canada took advantage of the situation, selling huge amounts of wheat and petroleum to Russia, and importing…
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No surprises
New Scientist has a big section this week on How to live to be 100. Beneath the headline there’s nothing unusual. If you do the well-known right things you’ll live longer, but reaching 100 is all in the genes. One study cited in the article gives the hard facts. Somebody tested a group of 500…
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Zapping the mailman
One of the postal employees at Reddit is having trouble with the new NGDV ‘duck truck’. Every time he reaches out and opens a metal mailbox he gets a big static shock. Is it electric motor vs gas motor? Not the most likely cause. Electric motors don’t necessarily build up a static charge. More likely…
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First video game?
Visual displays were common in early telegraphs and railroad signaling systems. There’s nothing new about a visual GUI. Wheatstone’s first system in 1832 was meant for home use, though it didn’t succeed commercially. Here the bee is typing out a message: In the 1850s the magnificent Foy system for the French railroads used a visual…
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