Tag: Constants and Variables
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Not silly
Following on previous item about bird-human parallels. I thought I was forming a silly ‘reductio’ in this 2016 piece about rackets and scams: = = = = = START REPRINT: As I noted before, 1950’s radio and TV shows constantly used drama and comedy to help us spot frauds and scams. Media now do the…
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Another bird gene?
I believe that humans are a mix of mammal and bird, possibly from horizontal gene transfer. Like birds, we’re bipedal, we build complex nests, we enjoy and produce music, and we enjoy and produce speech. The rest of our talents and tendencies are shared with other mammals. Male humans have a conflict between the bird…
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Still chewing on this….
I’ve been trying to untangle the two factions of opposition to the “virus” tyranny. I was never bothered much by vax. It’s the ONLY part of this monstrosity that belongs in real medicine and real public health, and the ONLY part that may actually work against a real virus if there is one. Taking one…
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Usually puzzled
When I’m puzzled by motives, I generally assume there’s a hidden purpose, and assume that stupid-looking moves are distractions. With the moves of Craig Wright, I have to reach a simpler conclusion. He’s just dumb. He’s a suer. He enjoys suing. We already know from many angles and many stories that Wright doesn’t understand software…
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Skill vs status
Carver in 1913: Start where you are. Work with what you have. Make something of it. Never give up. Here’s a fable showing what happens when you disobey Carver. Around 1915, Ford’s total mastery of high quantity at low price forced everyone else out of that position. Later, Cadillac’s total ownership of the luxury market…
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Attics
Random stupid thought. Many of the podcasters I see on Youtube are in attic rooms. Slanted roof, low walls, visible dormers. This makes sense if you own a big house and want to set up a room solely for podcasting, outside of everyday traffic. But the typical McMansion also has unused basement rooms. Why don’t…
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Tech gene question
Returning to the subject of tech genes. Here’s an odd question that doesn’t seem to have an easy explanation. Horse-powered vehicles had wheels with iron rims, and continued to have iron rims after automobiles were common.** Horseless carriages had pneumatic rubber tires from the start, even when they were made by the same company. Studebaker…
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Why miss a chance to show your skill?
This is one of my perpetual puzzles. In the ’40s and early ’50s, the best Euro cars tried amazingly hard to omit taillights. Designers who lavished close attention to shapes and grilles and roofs and dashboards simply ignored taillights, tacking on microteensy standardized pinpricks way down behind the bumper. Taillights were apparently obscene. Two haute…
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I don’t get it.
A failure of FAA’s air control system caused aircraft to be grounded for a few minutes or whatever. This is THE ONLY STORY right now, and Congress promises to “investigate” the glitch. The airlines (and buses and trains and taxis) STRANGLED AND GAGGED THEIR PASSENGERS for two fucking years, and media didn’t notice it. I…
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Odd correlation
The US Commerce department wrote this book in 1929. It’s an impartial description of radio systems and radio advertising in every country of the world, for the guidance of American advertisers who want to reach foreign markets. There’s a STRONG and backward-seeming correlation between advertising and government style in Europe. The countries that we called…
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Where’s the effect?
Stoller is extolling a new decision by the Federal Trade Commission to ban non-compete agreements. FTC claims this will raise wages by $2000 for an average worker. This doesn’t make sense. Non-compete agreements have been around for a long time. They were always used for executives and salesmen, and apparently they’re now used in other…
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What’s worse than DDT?
Reading a Reddit thread about sounds we used to hear. Modems, rotary dials, antenna rotors, the 15750 horizontal flyback in TV (interestingly, the thread has 15,700 comments right now!), dial tones and busy signals. I’m mostly analog, never switched from landline to cellphone, so some of these are still common for me. One steady theme…
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Same/opposite
Okay, here’s a suitable year-end shit, inspired by reading Huxley’s 1927 essays. Compare events that came out exactly as I thought, versus events that came out the opposite way. Check my own biases and assumptions. = = = = = Exactly as I thought: In Feb 2020, when China started doing the lockdown lunacy, my…
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Good knockdown of a silly idea!
This article on the origin of language is sensible but sort of surprising. Apparently the idea that language started from gestures is becoming more common, and might even be the consensus assumption now. The first paragraph is eloquent: Some say language evolved by firelight, with our ancestors sharing stories deep into the night. Others suggest…
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