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Rererereprint with rerererereaddendum
From 2017: = = = = = START REPRINT: How do you know which side of a “debate” is good? “Scientists” jail you for questioning “science”. Astrologers don’t jail you for questioning astrology. == MDs force you to follow orders by withholding life-sustaining prescriptions. (In any other context this would be called extortion.) Alternative healers…
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Karen guide
From Motor Age July 1922, a guide to customer service for Karens. 100 years old, still excellent advice. Well, my dear girl wouldn’t work now, but the rest is perfect.
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Satanic limbo
Still looking for a newspaper replacement. One author on Medium mentioned NewsBreak so I looked at it. NewsBreak is a pure aggregator, sensing your location and picking up “stories” from a variety of “local” media. It picks the most sensational, the best inducers of fear and panic. It also features national “stories” as seen from…
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When was it invented?
From Motor Age in 1919, a brand new and clever method for ‘working a car into a small space’. “Not one driver in a hundred knows how to work a car into a small space to get near a wall or curb.” Still true after 100 years of required driving tests.
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Not worried
Headline at Bari Weiss’s neocon opinion page: The rise of deepfake porn: AI can turn anyone into a porn star without their knowledge. That reality should frighten us all. Well, that’s one AI threat I definitely don’t need to worry about. Guarangoddamnteed.
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Two cities, six dwarfs
I was checking weather radar and noticed some rain around the Tri-Cities, possibly moving this way. As usual I tried to remember the Tri-Cities and as usual missed one. Kennewick, Pasco, and ….. Dopey! The Six Dwarfs would be a pretty good personality test. Which seventh dwarf is missing in your brain? I have Dopey,…
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Super-random thought
On this morning’s walk, my old eyes thought I saw some miniature writing on the pavement. First thought: Micro-graffiti! Neat idea! Turned out to be a piece of plastic food wrapper, transparent with white letters, so it looked like white paint on the asphalt. Still a neat idea. In other forms of art, miniatures are…
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Taft liked EVs
More from the same 1909 Motor age: = = = = = A Baker electric express wagon of 1,000 pounds capacity is the latest addition to the White House garage, already notable for the fine collection of cars purchased for the use of President Taft and his family. Two Pierce-Arrow cars, a White steamer, a…
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Primly and properly
Speaking of subjunctives… There are lots of old jokes about proper prim Bostonians. Maybe they’re right. Motor Age in 1909 has some pretty pictures of the motoring conditions around President Taft’s “summer capital” in Beverly. Nice Stickley typography. I’d say the summer capital is almost large enough to hold Taft. Alongside this picture: the article…
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Skill vs status
Carver in 1913: Start where you are. Work with what you have. Make something of it. Never give up. Here’s a fable showing what happens when you disobey Carver. Around 1915, Ford’s total mastery of high quantity at low price forced everyone else out of that position. Later, Cadillac’s total ownership of the luxury market…
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Nash wasn’t first
Continuing snippets from Curt McConnell’s book Great Cars of the Great Plains. One of his five featured cars is the Spaulding, built in Grinnell. Like most early automakers, Spaulding was a carriagemaker first, and wisely returned to carriages and furniture after his car faded out. His car wasn’t technically interesting like the Great Smith; it…
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Good analogy
In the Programmer Humor section of Reddit, a smart metaphor from India: Bangalore as a city seems to be like an application that was coded entirely on production. And different releases were attached later on through adhoc APIs. To some extent this describes every city, but the global/modular distinction is valid. I’ve made this analogy…
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A craft that adapted
Looking for more info on old trucks and such, came across the American Blacksmith journal from 1917. Real work and real creativity adapt smoothly to changed circumstances. The evil Innovative Disrupters cackle at the “obsolescence” of buggy whips and blacksmiths, because the evil Innovative Disrupters are demonic genocidal murderers. In fact blacksmiths simply broadened their…
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What’s the purpose?
The D party here in Wash is proposing mandatory “voting”, like Australia. I’m not sure what they’re trying to accomplish. No state has ever done this, and it’s a safe bet that some “court” will eventually block it, which won’t make any difference and won’t be obeyed. Government does what it wants. Do they think…
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Way beyond Shannon!
THIS goes way beyond Shannon info. This is world-overturning info, and I’m not kidding. A 9-volt battery is simply a package containing six AAAA cells wired in series. A 6-volt lantern battery is simply a package containing 4 D cells wired in series. This is like learning that wheels are really ice cubes painted black,…
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