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It’s all Duane Jones
When you favor or oppose an action for reasons that don’t align 100% with Team A or Team B, it’s much harder to maintain your own opinion. I had this trouble with bitcoin. I oppose it for solid experience-based reasons. I was a bookkeeper for years, so I know how real ledgers work. Bitcoin is…
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Go with the influencers
Random thought, might be a halfway good correlation, not definite. Persuasion includes sharing your customer’s interests whether you mean it or not. Repooflicans and Democrats are opposite in this area. If you want to know what youngsters are interested in, watch the influencers. Right now the influencers of both genders are completely traditional. Male influencers**…
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More vexillology
Following on Harper’s observations about Canada vs US in his discussion of flags. US bureaucracies and journalists and academics are responding to Trump’s cuts by protesting and petitioning. Canada is responding to Trump’s cuts by altering its behavior to SOLVE THE PROBLEM. The PROBLEM in both cases is too much dependence on US government and…
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How to do empathy
Journalists have zero empathy, can’t grasp the needs and desires of a reader who doesn’t belong to the same caste and clique. Here’s a beautiful example of understanding how a stranger thinks! Joke seen on Quora: Two statues, a male and female, stood in Central Park for 50 years. One day a genie came along…
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Vexillology
Another interesting interview from The Hub. They discuss the history of flags with Stephen Harper, former Canadian PM. I’ve never paid much attention to flags because I don’t understand the whole concept of teams. I don’t grasp saluting “my flag” or “my team” or “my country”. If the government is performing its functions well, I’ll…
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Elon vs FDR
Elon is cutting vast amounts of federal bureaucracy, or at least attempting to do it. He has no official role, so courts would be fully justified in rejecting all of his cuts. SYLLOGISM. FIRST PREMISE: We know that Elon will never cut war or tyranny, the only federal FUNCTIONS that need to be eliminated. He…
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Not just the religious pope
Comment seen on substack. = = = = = START QUOTE: Here’s a semi-annual reminder to all my Northern Hemisphere comrades (the North Wind People): we live under the tyranny of a calendar designed by a Mediterranean pope—a man who probably thought of “winter” as the time to bring a warmer linen shirt to the…
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Bad batch
Spokane News facebook page reported 14 drug overdoses in the last 12 hours. Must be an especially bad batch or perhaps EBT card time at end of month. [Later, we reached 20 in 24 hours. New record, I think! Congrats, city and state and federal dysgovernments!!!!] Interestingly, one commenter added this: If you watch closer,…
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The Markup Man
This 1957 film on printing careers reminded me of the STUPIDEST decision I ever made. Speculating about the past is pointless, especially when based on information that wasn’t available at the time. Some of this info was available, some wasn’t. The film itemizes the various specialties in printing. One is the Markup Man, who lays…
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Lock and awe
The demon Bush family specializes in mass destruction of people, economy and civilization. Every Bush Dynasty war starts with Shock And Awe. 1991: Bush Senior used the name for his Iraq Shock. The shock was not primarily aimed at Iraq, it was aimed here. I saw it in a group of students watching the fireworks…
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Unimaginably stupid
Question seen on Reddit’s Buttcoin (anti-bitcoin) group: What is the single biggest reason you DON’T believe in Bitcoin? Most of the answers included the usual correct reasons. It has no value, can’t be spent or saved, only makes a few people rich by swindling others. This is the most elegant answer by my standards: A…
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Correction Line Road
Musing about rectangular vs polar views of the world led to an old memory. Once in the 80s I visited a friend who had moved to the country near Dodge City. He lived on Correction Line Road. The name has nothing to do with jails. It has everything to do with the Louisiana Purchase and…
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Idiom oddity
Noticed an odd pair of phrases. In question and out of the question mean more or less the same thing. Walking today is in question. Walking today is out of the question. The second is more certain, but both mean that I shouldn’t walk. Logically the converses, Walking today is out of question. Walking today…
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Watch those hidden assumptions
Poor UI/UX design costs money! I’ve been getting good value from the Canadian website Hub. I tried to set up a subscription to reward value with pay, but their payment service doesn’t accept US addresses. The pulldown includes the 10 provinces but no other nations. I doubt this is political. The Hub has been around…
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No sympathy
I note that the “mayor” in Spokane has joined other “mayors” in a court brief opposing Trump’s cuts to research funding. No sympathy. The corruption of federal funding has been blatantly obvious and perfectly well known inside academia. Everybody knows it and everybody keeps taking it. For christ’s fucking sake, EISENHOWER warned about it in…
Polistra's Mill
Be your own beacon.
Polistra's Mill 