Tag: Machiavelli
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Bad marketing, halfway good idea
Via the local newspaper: Some state legislators want to add “creating a signature” to civics classes. The marketing focuses on John Hancock, but the proposal is somewhat more meaningful than the usual civics crap. It turns out that poor signatures are a real problem for voting officials. Mail ballots require a signature which is checked…
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They knew how to be fair
Trying for a little non-modern amusement while slaving away on dull alt-text work. Randomly sampled the latest uploads at American Radio Library and came up with a gem immediately. From a 1962 trade journal aimed at broadcasters and advertisers. At that time the Fairness Doctrine was firmly established and ensconced. Broadcasters hated every minute of…
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Arguing about details as usual
Web folks are having a big hissyfit about grade inflation this week. How will the kids ever master life if they aren’t receiving feedback about the quality of their work? It’s a genuine problem, but schools have never solved it and won’t solve it. Grade inflation is NOT new. Grade inflation was a big hissyfit…
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Fish in a barrel shooting themselves
Sometimes it’s just too easy! Headline seen at Eurekalert: Populist parties choose divisive issues on purpose, researchers say You don’t need research, and you don’t need to specify populist. The SOLE PURPOSE of EVERY political party is to create false division and avoid real problems. Ockham and Machiavelli warned us against this trick 500 years…
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“Election”
Locally, fucking urbanist Zappone won again. He will return to his usual idiocy now that the “election” is over. I’m disappointed but not surprised. This “city” has been incompetent and corrupt as long as I’ve lived here, and was probably the same before. I supported and donated to Zappone’s opponent Chris Savage, and I’m NOT…
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More on Desistance
Lately I’ve been thinking again about Desistance. The idiot politicians who claim to be Resisting Trump are actually Assisting him. Everything they do creates more reasons for normal people to want the opposite. If this is “democracy”, give us a king. Resistance is Assistance. I handled Desistance in a deeper way in 2021 when the…
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Loyal campaigners
Democrats are working for the Trump campaign as always. When normal people can’t run a business downtown because of homeless criminals, they think “If this is democracy, we need a king.” When normal people have to fix vandalism caused by homeless criminals or evacuate from fires caused by homeless criminals, they think “If this is…
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Instant Machiavelli, just add symbols
Abstract people are dividers. From the start in the 80s, the web divided us into two teams. On every subject, religion, politics, cars, electronics, software, sex…. every forum quickly divided into Team A and Team B. If you weren’t on either team you were shunned. Non-abstract people who live in a world of physical things…
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Great talk, not much action
Speaking of honest and dishonest… Bernie is rigorously honest in this speech. He pulls us away from all the Machiavellian fake disputes and nonsense and gossip that politicians and journalists deluge us with. He gets down to plain facts in a way that FDR and Henry Wallace would understand and appreciate. Unfortunately Bernie failed to…
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Back to unsurprising again
In July I noted a slight bit of apparent action by the insane “city”. Some REAL people, ie people named Cowles, finally got tired enough to make the “city” take a tiny bit of apparent action. I wrote: = = = = = START REPRINT: I’ve been thoroughly bashing the “city” of Spokane for ENCOURAGING…
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If you think
If you think Left and Right exist you’re a fool. If you think Democracy and Fascism exist you’re a fool. If you think Laws and Constitutions and Rights exist you’re a fool. If you think Free Speech exists you’re a fool. If you think Privacy exists, and the latest hack ruined Privacy, you’re a fool.…
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Another reason for Desistance
Well, there are already billions of reasons to stay out of the Machiavelli crap, but here’s one that might be relevant in the online world. Right now ABSOLUTELY EVERYONE in the online world is MANDATED AND REQUIRED to line up in two opposing armies about the BIG STORY, which apparently has something to do with…
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Another answer
Previous item repeated Carver’s answer to Machiavelli. Now repeat Henry Ford’s answer. = = = = = START FORD ANSWER: This 1935 Ford promotional film starts with a long florid speech by a pompous grandiose announcer, introducing an important address by Henry Ford himself! Mr Ford will announce the company’s way of countering the Depression.…
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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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Ponzi is a fake argument
Too many arguments sink into irrelevance when one side insists A is a Ponzi scheme and the other side says it isn’t. Bitcoin and Social Security are both called Ponzi at times. The definition of Ponzi is much more nuanced and fuzzy than we usually think. Intention is important. Two classic examples show the real…
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