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The Creeping Thyme solution
Matt Stoller tries his hand at diagnosing the D party’s ailment. = = = = = START STOLLER: For the last few weeks, I’ve been mulling over a question that I think will bedevil all of us in the anti-monopoly space for years, perhaps decades. Anti-monopoly policy is immensely popular, and there hasn’t been an…
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They’re baaack
The one good thing about last week’s “election” was the end of both email and paper political spam. Now it’s starting to come back, copying the scripts of the more permanent Your account SiriusXM will be deleted type of spam. Latest political: Your GOP account is expired. Friend, this can’t be!
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Not accidental
I was reading a defense of the Canadian system of postal codes, which is part alphabetic and part numeric. One example is X0E 0R8 for a region in Northwest Territories. The writer claimed that part-alpha is easier to remember. Nope. When our post office established Zip Codes, they chose 5 numbers. As far as I…
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Graybill at all scales
Another good example of Graybill’s Law, written in the 1880s and massively true now. = = = = = START GRAYBILL: Thus the people of unprotected countries are forced into the business of transportation, merchandising, law, the church, or farming. [DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR?] This policy narrows and restricts the ordinary opportunities of men, and…
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The founder of a generation
Thomas Kurtz, creator of BASIC, has died at 96. Unlike later language creators (Kernighan and Ritchie, Linus Torvalds), Kurtz’s name isn’t famous. I’d never heard it before. BASIC taught programming to a whole generation. In early PCs, Basica was right there when you turned on the computer. You just started typing commands and making fun…
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Trump does one thing wright!
Trump will be doing most things wrong, serving Wall Street and bankers instead of America, but he’s got this one absolutely right! Trump has named Chris Wright as his energy secretary. = = = = = START QUOTE: Trump has named Chris Wright, the founder and CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, an oilfield services company,…
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A philosopher GETS IT.
Amazing. Sandel is described as a philosopher, but he is a HARDASS REALIST. He gets EVERYTHING right, and describes it perfectly. The idiot “journalist” doesn’t show any signs of learning from Sandel’s REALISM. He clearly thinks everything is perfect if only the brainless peasants would understand. Will the party start listening? I doubt it.
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Goddamn it.
Stupidest statement of the week, which unfortunately encapsulates the views of all experts and economists and media: “The economy is objectively great but subjectively horrible.” Platonism has infected all of our “experts” and academicians. Objective means PHYSICAL REALITY. Subjective means OPINIONS and VIEWPOINTS. Math is NOT physical reality. Math is a VIEWPOINT. And official statistics…
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Missed the oddness
Curbside Classic has an article on the Pontiac Star Chief. The article describes the original model correctly but misses its oddness. Most carmakers were playing the same game in the early 50s. Introduce a special upscale hardtop as your first hardtop, give it a rich and romantic name, then later step the name down through…
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Two types
Seen in a list of computer jokes at Quora. More of an observation than a joke. There are two types of programmers. Type 1: if (x==1) { return TRUE; } Type 2: if (x==1) { return TRUE;} I’m emphatically Type 1. It separates the condition from the consequence, making it easy to read and debug.…
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Poems to turn back the tide
I have no patience with modern poets, and I’ve pretty much lost patience with Brownstone Institute. They have a few good writers but their overall goal is compromised. Exception to both rules! Brownstone pointed to a new book of poems by Gracia Grindal. The samples sold the book. I bought the physical book and started…
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Great proverb
Ran across a fine bit of advice. Don’t bring data to an emotion fight. Most online activists make this mistake. They delve miles and miles down endless caves of ever-multiplying details, with ever-fancier names. They think hammering the opponent with endless fancy names and long precise numbers and evidence will destroy the opponent’s argument. Nope.…
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Brilliant idea!!!
Via Axios, the new Substack competitor Beehiiv is trying a unique way to encourage gutsy journalism. = = = = = START QUOTE: The new fund will help beehiv build the tools, resources, and operational support systems needed to help journalists scale their newsletter products on the platform, the company said. Journalists will receive a…
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Ease and comfort
This picture is a bit old but represents my current mood. After a HARD and STRESSFUL summer, I’m gradually pulling out of the various troubles. Relaxing as much as possible while getting some work done on courseware. Basking in comfort without any guilt. Taking the taxi instead of the bus now that I’ve finally found…
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Same fakery in two areas
I’m tired of people who believe (or pretend to believe) that the media used to be fair and objective. They want it to return to its pre-Eden purity when it published the Pentagon Papers and Watergate. Both of those revelations are PROOF of unfairness. The Papers, which were written in the ’60s, were “revealed” in…
Polistra's Mill
Be your own beacon.
Polistra's Mill 