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Opposite options
Carney starts this speech with all options are on the table. He’s using the phrase oppositely from US leaders. When we say all options, we’re preparing to attack an innocent country that tried to be friendly. Trump is continuing the classic US mode with his attack on Canada. Canada hasn’t attacked us since 1812, and…
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Where was the research?
I’m trying to do a tech history piece on Western Union. Not trying very hard at the moment, mainly focusing on courseware. I wondered how big WU’s research department was at the height of telegraph dominance in the 1920s. The answer: Not very impressive. But they used their relatively small staff effectively, covering a wide…
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Best definition
The 1958 Chevy sales film is an excellent social science textbook with realistic and actionable descriptions of human nature and human desires. = = = = = Semiquoting: Deals aren’t closed by talking about Hydraulic Valve Lifters or Body By Fisher. Deals are clinched by how one human being reacts to another human being. Every…
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Who’s realistic?
A typical Spokane News item with comments illustrating a basic difference. Women understand how people work. Men don’t understand. We have romantic ideas or political ideas, not realism. First the news item, then the women, then the men. Facts: Men will take all sorts of shit to get sex. Women will take all sorts of…
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Parliament is ALWAYS better
The Parliamentary system, as used in Canada and other Commonwealth countries, is INFINITELY SUPERIOR to our oligarch-designed dictatorship. In this clip CBC completely misses their own superiority. They’re mocking Canada’s ever-increasing number of seats in Parliament, implying that the US system of constant 435 is better. Canada tries to maintain about 100k people for each…
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Pointless library rant
The fake pro-woke and anti-woke warriors are always battling about school libraries. It’s absurd. School libraries were never meant to be a general reference source, or a place to find enjoyable vacation reading. Public libraries are supposed to carry a broad range of subjects and fiction, serious or non-serious. Bookstores and newsstands carry less serious…
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It’s odd
It strikes me as odd** that the Tech Tyrants ignore their own training. Most of them started as engineers or programmers. In both trades MODULARITY is crucially important. Tech Tyrants practice the exact opposite. Everything they do is aimed at TOTAL ONE-WAY GLOBAL CONTROL of all objects and people and planets and stars and black…
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Looks familiar!
Skimming through some 1966 trade journals recently added at American Radio Library, this GE clock caught my eye: Hey, that looks like the clock in my living room, my main source of time when I’m not facing the computer. Sure enough, on the back it says Model 7223, just like the one in the ad.…
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Never too late for the Right Thing
Several public-facing federal agencies have been taking the Canadian path to handle the psychopaths. Like Trudeau and Carney in Canada, they’re resolutely maintaining a good attitude toward the public even while the psychopath chops and whips their agency. In fact this is more than good behavior. It’s damn near saintly behavior, reminiscent of the early…
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Following the Users Manual
Trump has blocked Canadians from entering the little cross-border library in Vermont/Quebec. It’s been making news as a symbol of long-term friendship and tolerance, so the Trump admin had to do something about it. When people are unhappy and preparing to rebel, smart governments** try to SATISFY THE NEED instead of smashing down harder. Trump…
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Mother-in law and cliff
Speaking of beautiful old infrastructure… An old system is SUSTAINABLE by definition. Whether it’s a house or a car or a coal power plant, maintaining it and using it are CLEANER than building a new one. (As long as it’s still working properly.) Good news: An upstate New York coal plant has been restarted! Yay!…
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Random note on memory
I received a batch of 40 images from the book’s author for the next courseware chapter. I won’t necessarily use all of them in lessons; some won’t be relevant, and I may want to make my own 3d of some for animating. The chapter repeats and expands a chapter in the previous edition. Running through…
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Romantic vs engineer
Someone posted a picture of a snowy mountain with a dense pine forest in the background, and a railroad track with a freight train in the foreground. He described it as a beautiful Nature scene marred by an ugly human artifact. I see the EXACT OPPOSITE. The train is BEAUTIFUL because it’s a crucial and…
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Car grammar
The car sales training films are all about grammar, and not in the usual dumb way. (Upon whom, through which, in order better to drive, I haven’t cars.) All of the sales advice can be reduced to noun cases. This 1958 Chevy film** hits the points directly, but all of them from 1950s to 1970s…
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Pick a side.
Canada and EU are both sticking firmly to the irrational hatred of Russia. They won’t be able to achieve full independence from the US monster as long as they maintain the CORE INSANE BELIEF of US imperialism. Europe, of course, has been hating Russia and trying to invade it for hundreds of years. Napoleon, Kaiser…
Polistra's Mill
Be your own beacon.
Polistra's Mill 