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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…
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Business makes civilization
Right now the Democrat establishment is showing what happens when you’re accustomed to dealing with only one customer, the government. If any of them had ever WORKED in a real business, let alone RUN a business, they couldn’t hold this attitude. When you depend on customers you can’t afford to piss off half the customers…
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Reprint on black upperclass
Linked in previous item about the black upperclass, worth a reprint. This shows that the current trend in business and politics and “journalism” isn’t brand new. = = = = = START 2017 REPRINT: As US businesses continue to INTENTIONALLY REJECT HALF OF THEIR CUSTOMERS, it’s worth remembering a time when the trend was reversed.…
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Black IOOF history
This is even more interesting than the white IOOF. Black lodges started in NYC in 1843, twenty years after the white lodges. From the Official History of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, published 1893. I’m including an unusually long quote because it’s powerful and important history. = = = = = START QUOTE:…
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Engineer joke
Took me way too long to catch this joke, but it’s a fine one. Q: How do you tell the difference between an electrician and an electrical engineer? A: Ask them to pronounce the word unionized. = = = = = Why I should have caught it immediately: I discuss each of those versions OFTEN!…
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IOOF history
After spending some time at the Odd Fellows retirement home in Eureka Lake, Polistra decided to seek out a lodge. She found a typical one in La Cygne** near the southeast corner of the state. Like most lodges it was in a downtown storefront. The building looks like it originally housed a bank. A grocery…
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Monarch without territory
Took a quick look at Columbia “Journalism” Review. A remarkable display of total blindness and convoluted ignorance. They are “preparing for war” against Trump. Trouble is, they don’t have any soldiers. “Journalism” is a dead empire that can no longer draft customers by spitting on them and punching them in the face. Over and over,…
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Union power
I’ve discussed the rise and fall of shortwave often. Shortwave is an abandoned territory ripe for reclaiming, and Mutual Benefit Societies are another abandoned territory that deserves reclaiming. This little item rings both bells at once. In 1933 shortwave was growing but not well explored or understood yet. A 1933 issue of a Gernsback radio…
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Modifying Horatio
It’s time to modify an old proverb. Hamlet said: And therefore as a stranger give it welcome. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Modified version: And therefore as a stranger give it welcome. There is more in heaven and earth, Horatio, than the things dreamt…
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How to regain trust
Elites periodically engage in fake superficial gestures toward reform. Right now, predictably, we’re seeing a few of these fakes. An editorial in “Nature” magazine shows the fakeness. Science must regain trust by fighting the people who distrust it. = = = = = START QUOTE: Make no mistake, the political assaults on science stem largely…
Polistra's Mill
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Polistra's Mill 