Tag: Constants and Variables
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Dream helped to answer a question
A 1980s coal pollution project popped up in a dream recently. Thinking about this project led to an answer. At that time Penn State was eagerly hosting hundreds of Chinese grad students. Universities favor foreign students because they pay full price while most domestic students have discounts. They could afford full price because the Chinese…
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Pull or push
Following on previous item about writing vs thinking. A closely related theme seen in the same places: You need to consume lots of books before you can write. First: This axiom makes it too easy to defend AI. Sam’s machine consumes billions of books and other writings and mushes them all together to form its…
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Financial, not industrial
The print edition of History Today has a short article with a BIG myth-breaker. The Industrial Revolution of the 1700s was more about finance than industry. Industry’s share of Britain’s overall economy went from 36 percent in 1600 to 41 percent in 1700, then stayed around 35 percent through the 1700s. No net change. Services…
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Perfect illustration
Here is a perfect illustration of the problem with Democrats and “journalists”. Both are doing everything possible to guarantee that Trump rules forever. Both have forgotten the basic notion of business or “democracy”. In real business or real “democracy” you have several competing choices, each attempting to offer a BETTER PRODUCT that will be PLEASING…
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What’s the important difference?
Along with the grounding power of tradition, there must be a simpler and more practical reason why Canada was able to learn from Trump’s attack, while the US Democrats have been allegedly opposing Trump since 2015 while ACTUALLY campaigning for him. Constants and variables: Trudeau’s sudden shift toward doing the right thing after many years…
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Checking an old observation
Several years ago I noticed that online algorithms came in two sharply different types. Commercial algorithms do a splendid job of judging your taste in things. When you buy something online, you immediately see ads for appropriately similar things. The ads don’t steer you into the most popular product right now, or a product that…
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The value of flips
Elon’s sudden flip from fake environmentalist to fake Trump cultist seems to have awakened a few of his Gaian fans. When a cult leader joins the other side, the followers split three ways. Some will continue with the same ideology and generate new leaders. Some will follow the person no matter where he goes. And…
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The blackest swan
It’s interesting to watch Canada’s Conservatives right now. Trudeau blindsided them by doing the MOST UNEXPECTED THING IN THE WORLD. He started serving the nation. The Conservatives didn’t have a Plan B, which is completely understandable. A politician serving the people is the blackest of black swans, the most GENUINELY unexpected event of all. It’s…
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Industrially repeated
This argument has been industrially repeated for decades. It makes superficial sense but there are flaws in the assumptions and facts. = = = = = START QUOTE: Industrialization explicitly rewarded compliance, conformity, and disciplined repetition. Schools were designed to produce workers who fit neatly into that mold, treating variation as a flaw instead of…
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What do we pay for?
Thinking about courts and juries led to a comparison of doctors vs lawyers. In most products and services we pay for improvement. Food that gives us more taste and nutrition, entertainment that gives us more pleasure, cars that give us more enjoyable travel. In earlier decades, both lawyers and doctors matched this pattern. We paid…
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Is Elon more efficient than SS?
This 1962 educational film about Social Security is a nicely produced story, by educational film standards anyway. It tells about SS by following a young reporter who visits the administration with her grandpa, to see how SS works for young people and old people. At one point the film mentions that modern computers enable SSA…
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More OCD witchcraft
Ran across an especially egregious example of modern OCD witch hunts, blaming trace elements and trace waves for huge illnesses. I understand the temptation only too well. I’m a natural hypochondriac, ready to blame any available outside influence for my “symptoms”. Long experience has taught me that 98% of my problems are either seasonal inflammation…
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Surprising optimism
Economist Jeff Rubin, interviewed by Tara Henley, offers one big positive surprise plus some unsurprising facts. Surprising: Rubin points out that Trump’s first term imposed new tariffs on China**. Biden bashed the tariffs for partisan advantage, but actually continued and expanded the tariffs. Now Trump 2 is imposing more. These tariffs are bringing one genuine…
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Who’s realistic?
A typical Spokane News item with comments illustrating a basic difference. Women understand how people work. Men don’t understand. We have romantic ideas or political ideas, not realism. First the news item, then the women, then the men. Facts: Men will take all sorts of shit to get sex. Women will take all sorts of…
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Was it time or space?
Thinking again about trust. A definite change happened in the early 80s. I don’t have enough ‘control variables’ to determine if this was a matter of national culture change or location. It could easily be culture by location, not culture by time. With that giant disclaimer, here’s the observation. In the ’70s, employers trusted me…
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