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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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A speech for the ages
Perfection. Everything he says is perfect, every move he proposes is perfect. I can’t add or bitch about one word or comma or space. US Democrats could learn from this. They won’t.
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Easy to see, hard to see
Random thought that seems pretty good at the moment. Our main problem now is not monopolies on selling, it’s monopolies on buying. (Yes, I know it’s called a monopsony, but that’s an Economist Word and I won’t use it.) A monopoly on buying is unfamiliar because most people don’t experience it. It only affects the…
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Localize, localize, localize
An old song has been popping in my mental jukebox lately. I’m convinced it’s a railroad song. You can hear the locomotive chugging and a dopplered whistle, similar to Chattanooga Choochoo. The last two lines seem to be: Riding on the __ __, Riding on the __ __ line. There’s a two-syllable railroad in the…
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Okie like button
This 1950 Chevy truck infomercial includes a familiar word that I haven’t heard since leaving Oklahoma. Mr Wayne Slocum, head of an oilfield service company in OKC, is comparing the new Chevy to his “other brand” trucks. Wayne’s voice and dialect are a perfect specimen of the Eastern Okie sound, often heard in OKC but…
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Nobody ever learns
Business Blunders features a modern swindler who nicely reproduced the original Ponzi’s methods and extravagance. As usual, he was caught only after doing lots of damage. Despite the endless publicity, nobody ever investigates. When Racket Squad did a wonderful dramatization of Ponzi’s life and tricks in 1952, they carefully avoided mentioning the name. They called…
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Useful information
Repooflicans and Democrats have been blaming the police for our problems. They are INTENTIONALLY framing and blaming the wrong group. It’s been clear for a LONG time that the police are trying to do their job while obstructed and fenced by Bloombergian devil politicians and Sorosian devil prosecutors. The devil politicians want to defund the…
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Reprint on Canadian independence
Linked in previous, worth a reprint. = = = = = START 2017 REPRINT: Tech-tyrants always see governments as the problem and corporations as the solution. Not surprising for the leaders of the movement, who work for the corporations that will “finally solve” us. The followers really ought to be thinking more carefully. This article…
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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…
Polistra's Mill
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