Tag: Constants and Variables
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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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Hack-proof is impossible.
Supposedly China has used “quantum” computing to set up a hack-proof satellite linking China with South Africa. (The C and S of BRICS.) There’s no such thing as hack-proof. There are thousands of well-established ways to encrypt a message. None of them are hack-proof if the channel can be physically intercepted. Avoiding physical interception is…
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More Hudson trivia
A couple more Hudson trivia items. 1. I was wondering if Neals Motors in Australia was just a dealer who modified the cars, or a manufacturer. They definitely modified some trucks into Aussie-style utes. The answer is here. Neals was an assembly plant with a large factory. Presumably they didn’t cast and forge the parts,…
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Is Trump Harding?
Yesterday I focused on the government as a hugely complex product with lots of conflicting parts, good and trivial and massively evil. This reminds me of an earlier vow to let the dust settle before trying to judge what Trump is doing. Without a doubt Trump is throwing a lot of dust in many directions,…
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Go with the influencers
Random thought, might be a halfway good correlation, not definite. Persuasion includes sharing your customer’s interests whether you mean it or not. Repooflicans and Democrats are opposite in this area. If you want to know what youngsters are interested in, watch the influencers. Right now the influencers of both genders are completely traditional. Male influencers**…
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More vexillology
Following on Harper’s observations about Canada vs US in his discussion of flags. US bureaucracies and journalists and academics are responding to Trump’s cuts by protesting and petitioning. Canada is responding to Trump’s cuts by altering its behavior to SOLVE THE PROBLEM. The PROBLEM in both cases is too much dependence on US government and…
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Uniquely powerful cults
The two modern political cults are uniquely powerful. Both of them can vacuum the brains out of previously clear and rigorous thinkers on any subject. A few months ago I saluted historian Robert Sandel for debunking several myths. I liked his work so much that I bought and read his book. Most of it is…
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MIL Cliff
About 40k federal bureaucrats are being fired. The old Mother-in-law / cliff joke applies perfectly. In the broadest sense I’m glad to see Trump breaking Parkinson’s Law. The devil is in the details. Some bureaucrats, specifically the Die-Versity types, are mother-in-laws for the real economy. They just bitch and lecture us, serve no useful purpose.…
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Voice of experience
This guy knows what he’s talking about. He was formerly the Canadian director of NORAD, and worked with US officials and military. He realized that Trump’s threats were bluff and bluster in his first term, but sees Trump as serious about annexation this time. He correctly appreciates that the Canadian government is FINALLY becoming POPULIST…
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Good proposals, won’t happen.
The Edelman outfit has done its annual Trust Barometer. In nearly all countries, normal people hate their leaders of all types. Needless to say, rich fuckheads trust other rich fuckheads, but humans distrust all rich fuckheads. Edelman describes the facts correctly, and even proposes some pretty good solutions. Listen, respect, stop fucking people over, try…
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Survival of the misfittest
Continuing inspiration from Sherri Olson’s marvelous book on English peasants in 1300. = = = = = Court sessions were participatory performances. = = = = = START QUOTE: Many ears are listening to a story that is being worked out as it goes along, a story that is searching for assent as it unfolds,…
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Simplest explanation
Looking at the recent history of economics as reflected in the automotive industry, one pattern is clear. Companies that focus more on products and profit are able to survive hard times better than companies that focus more on Share Value. The most dramatic example is Studebaker vs Nash. Both were about the same size in…
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