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X et XII, pars II de II
After covering the Addiator I was curious to see if there were similar devices in earlier times. Rome used primitive abacuses, just stones sliding in grooves on wood. Not really a device. Googling medieval abacus led solely to this gadget: There’s only one source for the picture and description, a 1682 encyclopedia of ancient things…
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Machiavelli works
While I’m doing poll type stuff, here’s an unsurprising but worthy Gallup poll. Who owns bitcoin and related frauds? Men. More specifically, wealthy “conservative” men from 18 to 50. About 25% in this group own fraud, and 37% of all men. Only 17% of all women own fraud. Partisan advertising works for frauds like politics…
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Lowe’s perfect word
The “two” “sides” are pointlessly arguing about the network decision to drop Colbert. One side says the network was cowardly, the other side says it was brave. (I hardly know who the dude is, since I haven’t watched any TV since 2010 and never watched the late night “comedy” shows either on TV or on…
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Original jurisdiction
In April I was called to serve on a jury for a fraud trial. I got out of the box honestly, which saved my health. Fortunately the jury reached the correct conclusion without my dubious help. Sentencing was originally scheduled for July 23, but it hasn’t happened yet. I keep checking the court calendar. Today…
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Tag reminded me…
I decided to add a Thanks Post Office tag since I’ve been defending the PO from Elon and Trump lately. When I used the WordPress editor to apply the tag to all items about the PO, I found about 30 posts over the three years I’ve been in WP. I looked in the old Blogspot…
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Praying for Powell
Jerome Powell is the bravest man in the top layers of government. In 2022 he turned away from crime and began carefully restoring HONEST ECONOMICS and REAL BUSINESS. Clinton, Obama and Bush had replaced honesty with crime, giving free money to the stock criminals and charging zero interest for criminal activities. When Powell went straight,…
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Fordist wins
Interesting article on local newspapers that still succeed. The top 25 by circulation, mainly digital now, include a few in the expected places like LA and Chicago, but the list is dominated by much smaller cities. The author notes that several of those smaller city papers are owned by the Newhouse chain, including Harrisburg. When…
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Must be summer now
The neighbor across the street, who enjoys hot weather, is out all the time now. Plus: He finally unplugged his Xmas lights, flashing every night since November. I enjoyed the lights, a little bit of color in a drab world.
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Happy 250th, Post Office!
The Post Office deserves a special celebration this year, with Demon Elon and Demon Trump conspiring to destroy it. Elon’s Destruction Of Government Excellence is explicitly defunding all the GOOD and USEFUL parts of government while expanding the BAD and EVIL parts. Admittedly there are a couple of mixed cases. Department of Education originally served…
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Waggles and rods
= = = = = = VECTOR MEASUREMENT PART 1 OF 2 = = = = = Following from the Medieval Metrology series last month. Medieval land measures were vector, not rectangular. The base unit was time and work, not distance and weight. With land as with money, the base was one day of work…
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Waggles and stars
= = = = = VECTOR MEASUREMENT PART 2 OF 2 = = = = = Continued from Part 1 on medieval land area. Surveying is a mechanized way of doing the waggle dance. It includes all three dimensions when measuring the height of a distant building or tree or mountain. I tried a real…
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Weirdest dream
Worth recording…. This morning’s dream surpassed the 2011 WEERDX PEEBLEX dream in outright weirdness. I was kidnapped by a young MALICIOUS descendant of Henry Ford. He gathered us into a cult based on cursive handwriting, drove us around in his Model T, and left us in a hole filled with mosquitoes. I climbed out and…
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Starting to do the right thing!
NPR and PBS are appealing to the public to support them, now that congress has cut off their subsidies. The basic fact, ignored by both “sides” to maintain their shared lies, is that NPR and PBS were already commercial, mainly supported by advertising and pledges. Only 15% of NPR’s money was from the government. I…
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Ready for purchase!
I think Substack is ready to be bought by a Venture Capitalist. It has reached VC Nirvana. 99% MSNBC, only 1% CS Lewis misquotes. The MSNBC is divided into (1) Betty Friedan era feminists discussing nothing but menopause, (2) anti-peasant screechers, and (3) defenders of the “virus” concentration camp. Nearly perfect now, just have to…
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Couldn’t happen now
This is a reminder of how thoroughly the New Deal had reformed and fixed America, with a remarkably durable effect. In the 60s, capitalism was still firmly controlled, trade was beneficial, and the stock market was forced to do the unthinkable: INVEST IN PRODUCTION. In ’62 Chrysler was no threat to GM. It had been…
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