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Stoller has a point
Dems are screeching after Bezos refused to let his pet newspaper endorse Harris. From my viewpoint this is a small return to something like objectivity, a small move toward normal business where you try to sell stuff to EVERYONE, not just to an exclusive club. Stoller, the monopoly dude, sees it differently. At first I…
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Anniversary
The Odd Fellows were a prominent Fraternal Benefit Society. After returning to the topic I started looking up info again. Turns out today is an anniversary of the movement. From the Fraternal Monitor magazine in 1918: = = = = = START QUOTE: In 1918 the fraternal benefit system will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of…
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Eureka Lake
In 1966 I was exploring the Manhattan area. Southwest of town I found a huge brick building with a nice porch, fronting a peaceful little lake. The building looked like a hotel. On a nearby corner was a little country general store. Checking maps, I found that the building was the Oddfellows nursing home, and…
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New thought on universities
An article on men losing interest in universities pulled my attention back to one of my basic themes. Universities were NEVER meant for everyone. They arose from two parallel institutions, the monastery or seminary for priests, and the finishing school for aristocrats. Both have the same function. Both refine and certify elites, religious or secular.…
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It’s just Keynes.
Thomas Hoenig, the only central banker who STEADILY called for a return to real business and honest economics, has given a speech where he describes the problem and prescribes the solution. PRECISELY CORRECT ON BOTH ENDS. = = = = = START HOENIG: The question is, can we reverse these trends? Of course we can.…
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Delicious!
Via Protos: Sam Altman’s literally satanic dream of owning everyone’s souls has failed miserably. = = = = = START QUOTE: Sam Altman’s nightmare fuel crypto project Worldcoin is rebranding to World Network, or World for short, less than a year after missing its 2023 sign-up target by a whopping 99.4%. Altman announced the branding…
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Platonism
Saw this letter to the editor in New “Scientist”. = = = = = START QUOTE: Research has shown that if you show two dogs an unequal treat, they know and react with anxiety. So isn’t basic morality hardwired in some species? Wouldn’t we be one of these? As soon as we appreciate quantity, we…
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Blaming the customer
One of the tiring aspects of Substack is the condescending lectures from Littérateurs. You must read books! If you do not read books you are a low-IQ midwit! Fuck that. Write a book worth reading and I’ll read it. No modern author is writing books worth reading. The complaint is like the 1970s American auto…
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Aptronym alert
From Enid Buzz: = = = = = START QUOTE: Dr. Kim Tinius was recently voted Best Audiologist in the EN&E Readers’ Choice Awards! Kim graduated with a doctoral degree from Wichita State University. You might have seen her helping with her son Nate’s food truck around town, Starfire Celebration, serving delicious hearty food. Vitally…
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Streamliners and bags
Earlier today I was thinking about horses working with people as teams. Horses were the original autonomous vehicles. Remembered a couple of items I did many years ago. = = = = = One was about the Spokane Postal Chariots. Until 1945, the mail was delivered in specially made horse-drawn carts. Before we lost our…
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Billionaires = Criminals
Via the Verge, Elon had some “autonomous” robots serving drinks at the unveiling of his stupid Cbrtxi. The audience was impressed by the totally “autonomous” all-AI robots, but it turns out they were just radio-controlled by humans. If you tried this in a school science project, you’d be kicked out. If you were an unfashionable…
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Law of human nature
A redditor posted this pic of a dusty old Comptometer, and described it as a typewriter. Commenters instantly piled on, some saying it was a calculator, others correctly identifying it as a Comptometer. Then somebody observed: Cunningham’s Law: To find an answer, don’t ask for a solution. Instead, post the wrong one. People who wouldn’t…
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Good diagnosis, bad fix
Seen at Reddit: = = = = = START QUOTE: I’m tired of boomers telling Gen Z and millennials to “suck it up” when we say that a salary of $60k or less shouldn’t trap us in a mediocre lifestyle, sharing apartments, skipping dining out, avoiding social outings, or never taking vacations. No, these things…
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Priceless article
SL Kanthan has written an immensely valuable article debunking our lies about the Maoist system, and showing how the 1989 “revolution” was one of our Color Revolutions. Both parts make sense. I suspected both were true, but had no info to back up the first suspicion. Kanthan reproduces some CIA reports from around 1960. While…
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Shallow thought about shallow thought
Every day I see somebody complaining that Americans are “shallow thinkers” now because we don’t read books. This is a shallow thought. 1. It’s hardly new. Very few people have the time or motivation to engage in philosophy. 2. Most people do a lot of deep thinking about their jobs, marriages, kids, money, etc. Books…
Polistra's Mill
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Polistra's Mill 