Tag: Constants and Variables
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Back one level
The best troubleshooting trick is: Step back. Less tersely, if a problem or decision at one level seems to be getting nowhere, go back to the choice above this choice, or the choice before this choice, especially if the next level up is NOT SEEN AS A CHOICE. In programming, when I can’t figure out…
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Better distinction
Thinking about publishers vs carriers, ran into a concept that isn’t usually included. Carriers are roads, postal systems, railroads, telegraphs, telephones, and the hardware of the Web. A carrier makes money by quantity, not quality. Roads formerly charged tolls by weight, and a few still do. Postal systems charge by weight and volume. Railroads and…
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Unusually good question
Somebody on substack asked a sharp question. Would a new draft start a civil war? Normally I ignore threats of a civil war. Side R expects Side D to start a civil war and vice versa. This specific question might be valid. Our warmakers have been able to run wild since 1975 because there’s no…
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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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Three counterexamples
Constants and Variables: Booker T vs the Meritocrats. Before the “rights” crowd started playing their vicious game in the 1700s, caste and locality worked together to keep cultures strong and give most men and women a position that fitted their abilities and tendencies. The meritocrats busted up both caste and locality with the fraudulent claims…
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Started later there
Worth reading! A detailed history from a former British government official in charge of science grants. Briefly: Until 1997, Britain made grants the right way, providing an annual ‘block grant’ to each lab or university to use however they wanted. In 1997 the Major admin adopted the US system of single grants awarded competitively for…
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Tiktok switches to Toyota
I’ve overused the Toyota analogy. In this case it’s literal. Until now Japan and China have followed diametrically opposite methods to take over US industries. Neither was aggressive. In both cases our “own” industries happily SURRENDERED the field to the foreign competitor without a fight. Our industries HATE to make things and employ people. They…
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YOLO vs hoarding
A pretty good article from the Telegraph. = = = = = START QUOTE: Generation Z is known for being staid, puritan – even boring. According to a July 2022 survey from livestreaming platform Keep Hush, Gen Z’s interest in clubbing has waned since the pandemic, with only 25pc expressing interest in going out. The…
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Virus = voices
This isn’t the worst example by any means but it’s the available example at the moment. A local bridge has been out of service for four years during maintenance and upgrading. = = = = = START DEVIL: “It’s been a long four years. You know, a couple those years of construction was during COVID,”…
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Literal viewpoint
In the simpler parts of reality, your physical position makes a huge difference. A motor is turning clockwise or counterclockwise depending on which end you see. Same for the earth, except that we’ve standardized the top view. Richard Rushfield and Ted Gioia are two writers with similar backgrounds, both writing in the same place about…
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Totally understandable
Just noticed a skeptic asking if “any non-governmental entity has actually photographed the alleged sunspots.” In today’s utterly crazy tyranny, total skepticism is totally understandable. When rulers are torturing and strangling and imprisoning us and bombing countries down to bedrock, all justified by blazingly fake “science” and fake “threats”, total disbelief is a natural and…
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Supercondensed matter
This 1954 promo for the Nutrilite supplement is well produced and typifies a long tradition for MLMs and related scams. Bitcoin follows the same tradition. Both pivot on a false idea of super-condensation. The product is EXTREMELY valuable because it’s EXTREMELY condensed. Condensed products are a wonderful idea, making extended storage and savings possible. Condensed…
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More ZiG
Listening to more commentators, mainly African, discussing the new Zimbabwe gold-backed currency. Some of them miss an important point, others hit it squarely. Miss: The central bank doesn’t have enough physical gold to pay all notes “on demand”, so the currency can’t work. No. Banks NEVER had enough physical gold to pay all bills “on…
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Don’t help them
Activists always have a tendency to overshoot. When rulers manipulate activists, they push hard to force the overshoot. This is well known in political and cultural and religious activism. Life always applies NEGATIVE FEEDBACK to minimize overshoots. Monsters always apply POSITIVE FEEDBACK to maximize overshoots until the system is damaged. Damaging the system is the…
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