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Pew comes through again
Pew surveyed people in 30 countries, asking them what’s wrong with democracy in their country and how it can improve. One answer came up almost universally: PEOPLE. The politicians themselves are fucked. If you could replace them with competent sane humans, things would improve. Below this top answer, each country had different secondary answers. Meanwhile,…
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Bit of justice
Bloomberg writes that middle managers are being laid off faster than real workers or top execs now. They quote one middle manager who survived previous layoffs and finally got the ax. Kendall Smith led a marketing team at a health-care staffing tech startup before she was recently let go after surviving previous rounds of layoffs.…
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Returning to an old pattern
Headline: Bentley introduces 5 custom editions inspired by Indian flag. One of the specials is the Bentayga Opulence Edition. A long way from Rolls with its “adequate” horsepower. This is reverting to an old norm. Before independence, maharajahs were a prime market for Rolls and Packard super-special custom limos and speedsters. = = = =…
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π Day
Keeping up a tradition… π Day again! Since I’m talking typography lately, I’ll hash and rehash a couple items from 2019. = = = = = Thinking about Trump as Pied Piper. When the metaphor first appeared in those DNC emails I didn’t quite understand it. After learning that Trump is Roy Cohn’s protege, I…
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Gangster all the way
I’m coming to appreciate Bloomberg podcasts as the least divisive available source, and the closest to the Fairness Doctrine. The “independents” are mostly either pure DNC cult or pure Trump cult. In this one short podcast Bloomberg discusses the idiotic Tiktok ban rationally, pointing out that both parties are relying heavily on Tiktok for campaign…
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Confusion isn’t work
Continuing from this set of thoughts on the physics definition of WORK. All action is in the agencies. The Biden admin, obviously without any participation by the senile puppet at the top, is doing several positive things. It’s cracking down on monopolies and mergers in a serious way, including mergers in the tech area. The…
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Wrong problem
Nieman Lab, which surveys journalism, says that several of the finalists for Pulitzer this year used AI in their work. As usual the article concentrates on the loss of “individual” creativity. That’s not a variable, not a new situation. Major writers and reporters have always used secretaries and assistants, which were called amanuenses in earlier…
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Sounds good at first…
This Brownstone article proposes an official health agency devoted to pushing dietary fads. The article starts with one valid point. Since 1920 the medical establishment has ignored basic aspects of health like diet, exercise, confidence, and sunlight, focusing EXCLUSIVELY on adding more pills. Doctors will rarely tell you to eat less and walk more. But…
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One nice thing
Speaking of the direct connection to the universe with alidades…. One nice thing about getting older is the change from nearsighted to farsighted. When young I needed glasses to see beyond arms length. In the last few years I’ve stopped wearing them around the house, and then during neighborhood walks. I kept them on for…
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India’s TVA
Mentioning the TVA in previous item reminded me of this bit of news: India is starting a new giant hydro dam project after completing and turning on another giant hydro dam. Modi is probably the nearest thing to FDR in today’s world. Constantly improving his infrastructure, paying no attention to ESG/DEI, trying to get along…
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Stupid headline
Stupid headline: Congress plows ahead with bill targeting TikTok against Donald Trump’s wishes Trump always knows what he’s doing. He’s the consummate backshot artist. Every one of his executive orders was crafted to give courts and agencies a burning need to do the opposite. His pretended support of Tiktok gives Congress an added reason to…
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Thar’s gold in them thar shills
The NFT scam is still running, though it’s obviously running on a digital manifestation of an expression of a hyperlink to a mention of vapors. These people are trying to sell the concept to artists by treating art as “a manifestation of an expression of who I am”. In some vaporous way, NFTs help to…
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History isn’t useless
It’s clear that the tired Santayana quote utterly fails in its supposed purpose. I’ve read that Santayana meant it sardonically, which would make sense. I don’t know if that’s true. In simple fact the rulers DO read history and they DO learn from it. They learn how to make more war, how to organize tyranny…
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Movies are more honest
Random thought. The movie and theater industries are dishonest in many ways, but both are the MOST honest forms of art in one way. Plays about making plays, and movies about making movies, have always been common. Both industries seem to enjoy displaying how the sausage is cooked. We aren’t encouraged to believe that Walt…
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