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Returning OJT
Batya’s message about the failure of modern “journalism” is focused on Experiential Education. She tirelessly repeats that journalism was previously a TRADE, learned on the job. Since the Watergate Coup journalism has been a THEORETICAL ABSTRACTION learned in grad school. I’ve been tirelessly repeating the same historical switch in the field of science. The change…
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Ringing words
A good sharp paragraph from Kirn: There are things against which even the concerted leveling of brute force is powerless. Beauty. A mystical epiphany. True prowess in some difficult endeavor. The ring of the right word. It’s those things which civilization must protect if it’s to be worthy of the name. I’ve been saying a…
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Random thought about Vimeo
As I watch various platforms competing for the Rogan crowd, I started wondering what happened to Vimeo. It was big before Youtube, and remained a solid contender and competitor for a long time. In the early years Vimeo had a reputation for independence. Vimeo was THE place where offbeat producers could stay online after Youtube…
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Nash puzzle
Found in a 1947 radio station brochure from WKNE in New Hampshire. The article is about a local Nash dealer who uses radio ads to advantage. The front car is unquestionably a new ’47. The car behind is harder to see. Some Googling leads me to think it’s a ’38 Ambassador, mainly because of the…
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Sort of halfway self-solving
Wolf’s latest item about credit includes some disheartening stats. Earlier it appeared that Americans were taking advantage of the Federal blood money to reduce their credit card debt. Now they’re doing the opposite. Wolf also includes a simple chart of college debt. Unlike most graphs that go exponential under the demonic influence of the exponential…
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Constants and Variables 169
More from the trust-inducing 2/2/51 news report, which was ordinary mainstream CBS output at the time. This story deserves respectful verbatim transcription. Note the literary level as well as the content…… = = = = = With all the troubles that beset us, and perhaps more to come, this is an inevitable corollary. The AP…
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Reprint from 2018
Especially germane on the subject of protests, media insanity, etc. = = = = = START REPRINT: Want to break the “cycle of violence”? Break the media. The press has been running this routine for at least a hundred years. It’s not mysterious or “unintended”. It’s an intrinsic part of their business model. Blood sells…
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Peasants must be reminded
Via Spokane News, the demonic “city” dysgovernment sponsored and allowed a fireworks display for Chinese New Year. There was no warning or notice in advance, and many people were panicked. Peasants are not allowed to shoot off fireworks on their own, which is a good and necessary rule, especially in summer. Fireworks flying into bushes…
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Woodstock spirit? Hah.
From a Twitter thread about the fake Hundred Flowers promise in the early days of the web…… Joe Angier, a documentary movie maker, says: I interviewed Mr. Whole Earth Catalog (Stewart Brand) for a Woodstock 25th anniv. special, and was told that the Woodstock spirit and ethos live on in these burgeoning online communities and…
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How to create trust
It’s easy to say that trust requires truth. But truth is an asymptote, not a binary on/off measure. In any area of life we try to get closer to a useful set of facts and observations, but we never hit the plateau. Here’s a better and more achievable rule: In science and in journalism, trust…
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No more donations
GoFundMe has seized the $10 million fund for the Canadian truckers and will repurpose the money to charities chosen by GoFundMe. The flat statement isn’t exactly true; donors can request a refund, and GoFundMe has a well established refund system, which always goes into action when a fund fails for various reasons. Even so, moving…
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Stupid question now worth reasking
Wandering through 1918 stuff, came on this trivial stupid question from 2017. = = = = = START REPRINT: Stupid random thought. I was downloading some ’50s TV shows to watch later. Most of the systematic Youtubers list old TV shows with numbers like S03E18 for Season 3, Episode 18. A few shows lasted long…
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How many times? Every fucking time.
Listening to Club Car Special as part of my usual bedtime playlist. Club Car was a radio teaser for the humor page of Hearst papers, dramatizing some of the columns and cartoons to enrich your reading experience. One of the regular humorists was O O McIntyre. It struck me that Kirn’s short takes on Twitter…
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Bitcoinoleth strikes again
From Balaji Srinivasan: See, this was stupid, because it’s *explicit* government censorship. The regime had a good scam going where they just got corporations to silence you in a deniable, decentralized way. But this gives the game away. Next q: how many times has this happened without being reported? How often has this happened? Always…
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It still works
The story of Anna Delvey has a long resonance. Anna supposedly came from mysterious German aristocracy and took NYC by storm, paying for everything on credit. Her foreign fortune was always tied up in mysterious litigation and bureaucracy, but it would arrive any day now. Her scam only lasted a few years, even in fake-loving…
Polistra's Mill
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Polistra's Mill 