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TIL
Today I Learned. I’ve lived in this house for exactly 33 years as of yesterday, and never realized until just now that the city sewer treatment plant is only 3000 feet away as the crow flies. That’s closer than Safeway and shorter than some of my regular walks. I always knew the plant was in…
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The sandwich standard
I should tack this fact onto the list of important things I learned from others. Most of these learnings happened between 2012 and 2017, after I threw away the TV. An 1880s British book on banking gave a simple statistic that altered my view of how money works. The statistic: Earlier I summarized an American…
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The reality check test
I listen to writers who agree with reality at points where I can check. Mattingly always fits at the points I can check, so I listen to him on other matters. In this podcast he’s discussing the (admittedly small) turmoil inside the Southern Baptists. Above all Baptists are NOT hierarchical. They disagree on many things…
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The Bush World Order is done.
Since 1974 Saudi has been the guiding star of our world policy and our oil-based world economy. Our wars against Iraq and Persia and Syria and Libya were fought on behalf of Saudi. Saudi just left the venue. Saudi has been sliding toward the sane side for a few years, making more deals with Russia…
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ID question
In human invention, a package tough enough to protect its contents is always designed along with the tool to open it. The ID types call it irreducible complexity, but I’d rather call it can’t have one without the other. Locks and keys. Corks and corkscrews. Cans and can openers. Staples and staple removers. Walnuts and…
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Another vague swindle
Since I’m in swindle mode this morning, here’s a new/old swindle. The clip is full of info on the mysterious Family Offices. Most are simply a modernized and secretized version of business managers. Rich devils have always set up corporate structures to manage their money and art collections and yachts and mansions. The newer form…
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Not clear yet
Caught a hint of this on substack. Omidyar, who runs The Intercept, is clearly a trickster of some kind. Maybe part of Deepstate, maybe not. He has been infiltrating the government for a while, placing his own people in key roles. Lina Khan of FTC is one of Omidyar’s alumni. Google quickly found verification from…
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Trump knows what he’s doing
Headline: Trump says he wants all remaining bitcoin to be mined in USA. Needless to say, the bitcoin suckers, who are also Trump suckers, will love this. Oh boy! That’ll show those horrible Red Chinese Marxist Commies who’s boss! Fact 1: Bitcoin is now a Larry Fink brand. Trump is a politician, therefore everything he…
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More along the same line
More thoughts spawned by rereading the Duane Jones book on advertising, and listening to those auto dealer training films at bedtime. Both sources were aimed at salesmen, not customers. The training films were not even available to customers. Because they were “secret”, both were openly crass and cynical, recommending sneaky tricks. BUT: Both agreed crassly…
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Another natural parallel
I don’t grasp fashion or fashionable drugs, so I had no idea this was a problem. Ozempic is so common now that snack food companies are losing money. No munchies, no profit. Snack food companies are taking nature’s route when demand drops. Experiment. Try different variations. Expand your audience by appealing to different types of…
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Caitch-22
Noted via MindMatters, an article in Wired discusses a growing problem for freelance writers. Publishers are switching to AI for their writing, and at the same time they’re kicking out human writers for “suspicion of using AI.” = = = = = START QUOTE: As a local journalist in Bucyrus, Ohio, Gasuras relies on side…
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Today is Loving Day!
About time. Loving needs a tribute. Loving County has been the least populated county in the US for a long time. The last time I looked it had about 200 people. It’s down to 64 in the 2020 census. In most states a depleted county was absorbed into the next county for easier administration, but…
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First ads
Someone on substack was defending the need for advertising when done for honest purposes. I commented: Yes! Advertising is part of nature. “Buy my pollen, get a free honey drink!” This seems like something I must have written here already, but oddly I didn’t. Despite all my musings on the Duane Jones book, and my…
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Back to Magic Lanterns
Returning to the crucially important theme of science as entertainment. Before science became a tool for war and torture in 1946, science was often mixed with magic and entertainment. The Magic Lantern was the intersection of the two. This time I’m not trying for historical authenticity; I’m mixing periods and making up things that could…
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Powerful analogy
Compact Mag details the rise of greenlash in this week’s EU parliament election. Germany has taken the craziest green path in the last 10 years, shutting down its clean nuclear plants and also banning Russian gas, resulting in more coal power. Coal is genuinely dirty, but coal automatically becomes pure as angel hair when Gaia…
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