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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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From this angle
When Bush announced the TARP bailout for stock criminals in 2008, a few “leftist” economists understood it. They called it privatizing the gains and socializing the losses. Banks and stock criminals could keep all their criminal gains from reckless betting, and the government would automatically make up their losses when their stupid bets missed the…
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Brief fashion, random memory
Noticed this article in an old appliance dealer mag. Central vacuum systems were trendy in the 60s, but never widespread. When we lived at the top of the hill in Manhattan, a rich prof built a new house next to ours. He had Euro connections and owned the first Squareback I’d ever seen, brought directly…
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Pew missed one
Pew is normally the most unbiased and careful pollster. Pew surveyed feelings on AI, comparing AI experts vs general public. They found the experts love AI and the public hates it. Pew defined experts as people who work in the field or attended conferences about AI. They tried to find more “diverse” or “gendered” experts…
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When you’re the mouse (2021 reprint)
Linked in previous item on Columbia University vs ElonTrump. This overlong piece was written in 2021 at the height of Trump’s PREVIOUS monstrosity. One thing has changed for the better. At that time the Weather Bureau was still doing the wrong thing, hammering Gaia and losing the trust of the people. Since then they’ve figured…
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Stuck on stupid
Now that Canada amazingly started doing the RIGHT THING in response to ElonTrump’s monstrosity, the total failure of all US parties and institutions is more salient. Canada is following the Booker T philosophy. When you’re the mouse, you have to use your own mousy talents to survive. You can’t beg the cat for permission, and…
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Does free speech work?
Everyone says that freedom keeps the gov’t honest and “holds it accountable”. Free speech is necessary to prevent dictators. Well, does free speech improve the govt’s behavior? Not much correlation. I can think of one good positive and three negatives without trying. The positive is, of course, the only REAL positive in the last century.…
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Shared Lie on coal
This item by Ruan Steyn, an energy realist, is a sharp surprise and a strong reminder that coal is FAR from dead, even in the US. The reminder is needed because everyone on both sides tells us that coal is gone. The Gaian side loves the lie and the pro-energy side (INCLUDING ME) hates the…
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Boyled tomatoes
This old informercial for Western vegetables illustrates a refrigeration method that I hadn’t heard of. It’s a remarkably elegant way to apply a basic principle. = = = = = Vacuum cooling works like a refrigerator except that it applies Boyle’s Law to the food itself instead of a gas contained in coils. A pallet…
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