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What the web lost
Yesterday I was discussing the web’s GAIN of available information compared to the pre-digital age. There are also LOSSES in functionality compared to the digital pre-web era. Today’s courseware work reminds me again of what we lost when programs switched from Windows to the web. The text’s author wants me to bring back part of…
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Should be charging for value!
Lately I’ve been browsing the reddit section for Post Office employees. Mostly inscrutable tech talk about PTMA and Form 3517B and Amended RMD2. Some interesting stories about good or bad customers, some encouraging advice from oldtimers to newbies, and occasional inputs from non-employees. One of the latter is a smart idea, and it’s the sort…
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More OCD witchcraft
Ran across an especially egregious example of modern OCD witch hunts, blaming trace elements and trace waves for huge illnesses. I understand the temptation only too well. I’m a natural hypochondriac, ready to blame any available outside influence for my “symptoms”. Long experience has taught me that 98% of my problems are either seasonal inflammation…
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Universal facts
One of the AFL-CIO booster films sympathizes with unionized postal workers. Carriers got up routinely at 4AM to start their sorting before walking the route. The narrator said “Nobody wants to get up at 4AM!” That was the official universal FACT for many decades as seen on TV and books and movies. People got up…
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What happened to the centennial?
Previous item about 100 years of Euro vs US auto production reminded me that Chrysler was supposed to celebrate its fake redated centennial this year. Last year was the real centennial. I wondered then why I wasn’t hearing anything about it. Turns out that Daimler, during the few days it owned Chrysler, redated the founding…
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Seems extreme, reality is worse.
Somebody quoted a statistic that seemed too far out to be believed, so I checked it with other sources. The extreme stat: EU produces 15 million cars a year, US produces only 2 million. Really? I knew we were fucked, but we CAN’T be that fucked. No, it’s worse. From EU auto mfrs association: Car…
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Carney is FDR.
I started the previous item intending to introduce this topic but then skidded off into my usual Ford vs Wall Street rant. The rant is relevant to current news, so I’ll leave it there and try again. Capital is MONEY or PROPERTY that serves to start or expand a business. Property includes land, buildings, tools,…
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Now he’s talking REAL money.
Wall Street wasn’t paying much attention to Trump’s attacks on Canada and Mexico. We run some offshore factories there, but not in IMPORTANT industries. We only make appliances and parts of cars there. Nobody we know uses appliances or cars. Our illegal immigrant maids and drivers use those trivial things. The IMPORTANT industries are the…
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The one difference
Since I’m doing random food-related stuff this week, here’s another. Fussy foodies have always been a complex mix of types and classes. Some of the species have moved their ‘coding’ over the decades, but the species are constant. The measurements treated as important in Fussy Food Talk changed just once, rather dramatically. The three major…
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Missing part of the point
The new print issue of History Today has a set of articles about the tight connection between America and cults. [The articles aren’t online yet.] They do a good job on recent cults like Scientology and Jonestown, but they miss the essential difference between a cult and a religious movement. The difference is simple. A…
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Never miss an opportunity!
Journalists are required to get everything wrong. Nieman Lab, speaking for all journalists everywhere, never misses an opportunity to lie and distort. Here they complain about Trump’s attempt to shut down VOA. They say that Russia and China will rush into the void, reshaping Africa’s attitudes. Got NEWS for you, alleged NEWS gatherers. You’ve been…
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Local debreviations
I remember reading once that Toronto residents call it Tronno. I didn’t believe it until I started listening to Canadian news videos lately. Yup, it’s Tronno. Philadelphia has a similar short version, something like Flufya. One city emphatically goes the opposite way. Everyone outside of Frisco calls it Frisco. The Frisco Railroad OFFICIALLY calls itself…
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Local pride
The latest Collectible Auto mag features a car that nicely meshes with two of my interests. It’s a carefully maintained ’57 Studebaker sedan, made in Hamilton and bought in Vancouver. The original owner used the car for long trips, so he rigged the front seat to recline Nash-style. When he died in 1980 his grandson…
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Surprising optimism
Economist Jeff Rubin, interviewed by Tara Henley, offers one big positive surprise plus some unsurprising facts. Surprising: Rubin points out that Trump’s first term imposed new tariffs on China**. Biden bashed the tariffs for partisan advantage, but actually continued and expanded the tariffs. Now Trump 2 is imposing more. These tariffs are bringing one genuine…
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Microwaves and SOEs
A 1969 promo film declares as an established fact that microwave ovens are yet another fine spinoff of our Capitalist Space Program, yet more evidence that Capitalism Beats Socialism because we hit the moon faster. Microwave ovens were invented to help the astronauts cook while in space. = = = = = Debunk 1. The…
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