Tag: Carver
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Today is Carver Day!
Rehashed and revised from this 2014 item on his 150th birthday. = = = = = START REHASH: By most calculations, George Carver was born in January 1864 near Joplin. He was born in the last year of official slavery to a mother owned by a German farmer named Moses Carver. Soon after George was…
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Booker T said it best
China is the stork. Citing Aesop: = = = = = START FABLE: The Fox one day thought of a plan to amuse himself at the expense of the Stork. “You must come and dine with me today,” he said to the Stork, smiling to himself at the trick he was going to play. The…
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Carver and AI
Seen in the anti-AI department of Substack: = = = = = START QUOTE: When everyone has an advantage, it is no longer an advantage. When everyone can learn and create anything at the click of a button, your advantage comes from slowing down, focusing on your craft, doing the right things manually, and acquiring…
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Starting to get it?
Yesterday I wrote a vain hope for survival of the local “news” business. More features, more plain reporting, and especially more service of the type that specialized magazines used to provide. Answer specific questions for paid subscribers. Use local knowledge and local sources INTERACTIVELY, not just shouting Party slogans. Today Nieman published its annual collection…
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Carver cures journalism
The local “newspaper” lost me a long time ago. When I moved here in 1990 I was accustomed to competent city governments, generally friendly people, and newspapers worth reading. I found the opposite of all three. The newspaper devoted tremendous energy to insulting the people, telling us that we were shit. This year the Cowles…
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Miniature orrery
Here’s a rare and wondrous example of science as Carver defined it. Look closely at the THINGS THAT ARE HERE. Notice something new. Let it talk to you. Don’t look at abstractions in your own mind, or abstractions in the religious beliefs of your funding agency. Abstractions are not THINGS and they are not HERE.…
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For the 1000000000000000000th time
Random thought on my endlessly repeated theme. I was writing this as a comment elsewhere, then decided to write it here instead. The bolded part seems like a new way of phrasing the WINNING combination. None of our idiot politicians can REMEMBER their own best example, the most electable president in history, the only president…
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Foy and 1906
The Soviet auto podcaster did a noble tribute to the Renault taxis that helped to win a crucial battle in WW1. These Renaults were the standard Paris taxi at that time. From airplane surveillance, army commanders realized they had an opportunity to defeat a Kraut attack on Paris if they could move troops fast enough…
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Machiavelli loves them
Everyone is riled up today, marching in the two assigned Machiavelli ranks, because some dude was killed somewhere. I’ve vaguely heard of the dude, maybe some kind of celebrity in Political Reality TV. These riled-up periods are good for me: they force me to turn away from wasteful scrolling toward creating or resting. I gave…
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WPA 2.0 in Carver territory
Here’s a fine example of the WPA spirit. Business has abandoned a normal and necessary function, so government picks it up. Even more WPAish, it’s a county government, not the feds. WPA gave priority to local control and local tradition, with federal support when needed. A 150-year-old weekly in Tuskegee was failing like most papers.…
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QA done.
Finished doing the testing and QA on the latest version of courseware, two months before the deadline. The previous edition in 2018 was hasty with too many shortcuts. This year I’ve made a vow to balance out the universal Engagement and Enshitification with careful work. For the newer chapters I’ve added more value with texts…
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Hollywood starting to get it?
Rushfield at The Ankler interviews Jon Glickman, head of Miramax, who claims to be optimistic about the future of entertainment. My first thought was: Related to Dan? Yes, Jon is Dan’s son. I met Dan a few times when I was politically active in Kansas in the 80s. I didn’t know that Dan moved out…
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The answer, three ways
The Canadians and the new pope have figured out how to deal with a psychopath. The idiot US Dems and “journalists” aren’t even close to thinking about the right solution. They’re stuck on screeching and suing and insulting the customers, which will only make things worse. Henry Ford and FDR had the right answer to…
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Good woke, reprinted
Linked in previous, worth a reprint. = = = = = REPRINT FROM 2019: This academic movement is more important and more valid than it sounds. First, how it sounds: = = = = = START QUOTE: Since apartheid ended in 1994, South Africa’s universities have struggled to transform themselves, leading to escalating student protests…
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The other Charles
I’ve never understood the appeal of spaceflight and ETs. Sciencey nerds are supposed to be fascinated by planets and stars and endless space. Nope. Give me creeks and houses and streets and people. I’d rather look about me, take hold of the things that are here, talk to them and let them talk to me.…
Polistra's Mill 