Tag: skill-estate
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If you don’t like tariffs….
A serious novelist was complaining that publishers have turned into a monopoly, giving less advantage to authors. Not really new. Harper and Random House and Doubleday were always dominant. She’s afraid that Trump’s tariffs will make publishing even more costly, BECAUSE ALL PRINTING IS IN KOREA. I can vouch for the latter. The publisher who…
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Lazy is best.
Following on this item and this item on the importance of MECHANICAL government. = = = = = Good businesses and good rulers are LAZY as well as mechanical. The two go together. When you make a process mechanical it’s affordable and easy to use. When everything is custom-made and ’boutique’, everything is expensive and…
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Obama gets it right
Religion News Service cites a recent article by Obama. = = = = = START QUOTE: What does build trust, because it builds relationships, is people banding together to get stuff done. Whether it’s a mosque and a synagogue joining forces to help victims of a natural disaster, or a Black community linking up with…
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ALL is all.
Time for my occasional salute to good old Kedit. I’ve been using it since 1984, and I’ve tried all the alleged substitutes and replacements. Nothing comes close. My life and work is centered around Kedit, specifically the ALL keyword, which has no equivalent in any other program. I use standard phrases in my daily life…
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New pointless thought
Continuing my pointless crusade against using quotes instead of SAYING IT IN YOUR OWN WORDS. New variant on the pointless crusade: If you’re letting Plato or Einstein or Franklin or Hayek or Rothbard or Tolkien do your thinking for you, then you can’t argue against people who let ChatGPT do their thinking for them. Both…
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Observation from abroad
A revealing cultural difference, observed by expat Mark Simon, cited by Kirn. = = = = = START QUOTE: Been 30 yrs in Asia. Always amazed how in US, who we consider elites, the professional class, are usually regarded as hired hands by an Asia that makes things. Education is greatly respected, and employed, but…
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More on Union Power
Two weeks ago I highlighted WCFL, a Chicago radio station run by a labor federation, which wisely started broadcasting on shortwave in the early 30s. Shortwave was the best way of reaching a worldwide audience with relatively low expense. Now American Radio Library has uploaded a 1929 magazine published by WCFL. It’s a high quality…
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Graybill at all scales
Another good example of Graybill’s Law, written in the 1880s and massively true now. = = = = = START GRAYBILL: Thus the people of unprotected countries are forced into the business of transportation, merchandising, law, the church, or farming. [DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR?] This policy narrows and restricts the ordinary opportunities of men, and…
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Union power
I’ve discussed the rise and fall of shortwave often. Shortwave is an abandoned territory ripe for reclaiming, and Mutual Benefit Societies are another abandoned territory that deserves reclaiming. This little item rings both bells at once. In 1933 shortwave was growing but not well explored or understood yet. A 1933 issue of a Gernsback radio…
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Good diagnosis, bad fix
Seen at Reddit: = = = = = START QUOTE: I’m tired of boomers telling Gen Z and millennials to “suck it up” when we say that a salary of $60k or less shouldn’t trap us in a mediocre lifestyle, sharing apartments, skipping dining out, avoiding social outings, or never taking vacations. No, these things…
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Self-solving globalism
Randomly reading some of the old magazines at American Radio Library reminded me of a change I’d forgotten. It’s relevant to the recent decline of big centralized entertainment and “journalism”, quickly replaced by more individual and local talent carried on Youtube or Tiktok. A country music mag from 1966 had monthly columns on the music…
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Protecting against invasion
In these Paris street pictures from 1962, one thing stands out. ALL the cars and trucks are French. No exceptions. I don’t see any Fiats or VWs or American cars. Most are Renaults, with a mix of Peugeot and Citroen and Simca. Other Euro countries were more cosmopolitan at the time, even Germany and Italy…
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We’re supposed to waste our emotions
As usual we have dozens of overdoses every day, some fatal. There are two responses. Dark humor and caring. Dark humor is winning, as more and more people realize that caring is a fraud. Media and rulers want us to CARE about everything so they can feed our caring with solutions that make things worse.…
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Bankruptcy is the solution.
Denyse comments on the latest evidence that “science” has totally abandoned science for politics. SciAm outright endorsed Harris instead of Trump, AFTER FIRMLY SUPPORTING WHAT TRUMP ACTUALLY DID IN 2020. This is the exact opposite of the “independent” activists, who worked hard to oppose WHAT TRUMP ACTUALLY DID, and now are universally working FOR Trump.…
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Better prescription
Ramesh Thakur at Brownstone correctly diagnoses the current Machiavellian monstrosity in US/UK/EU. His proposed solution is wrong. = = = = = START DIAGNOSIS: A perfect storm of crises has been building. It comes from still bubbling rage with governments for their single-minded obsession with Covid and the lasting damage caused by lockdowns, masks, and…
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