Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Admit I did not see this coming - New England releases QB Cam Newton. That means rookie Mac Jones is the starter. Hats off to Patriots beat reporters Mike Reiss and Phil Perry who speculated months ago that Jed Hoyer may have been signed as the back-up specifically if this situation ever came to pass...  If Elon Musk put his mind to work on a competitor to Twitter I imagine, once launched, it would be a huge success. I'd certainly subscribe right away... Alan Sepinwall's appreciation of Ed Asner... Ilhan Omar (probably) on the Kabul airport bombings,  "Some people did something"... Remember wondering how the fact that FDR was crippled and confined to a wheelchair could have been kept hidden from the American people by a willing and complicit US press for all of FDR's Presidency? Well future generations will wonder the same thing about Joe Biden's cognitive decline... 

Mission Accomplished Part Deux


George W. Bush was pilloried for standing in front of a sign. Not for pretending the deaths of 14 servicemen represented a "job well done." Shameful!

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Which Elizbeth Holmes will show up in her Theranos fraud trial? The last lines from the article are actually pretty chilling.

- Photo-bombing in the 15th century

- Matt Stoller with some interesting observations about Afghanistan and the US military.

- Elon Musk - "the smartest person in any room, anywhere" 

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"When your sense of self and happiness comes from within and isn't a roller coaster ride dependent on others or circumstances, you approach life differently. You make better choices. You draw to you the people and situations that matter. The others, they fall away." - Kamal Ravikant

"I've learned to ignore what experts say I should do. Instead, I do what they do." - Scott Adams

"The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you choose, what you think and what you do is who you become." - Heraclitus

"We didn't love freedom enough. And even more, we had no awareness of the real situation. We spent ourselves... And we hurried to submit. We submitted with pleasure." - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 

"Communication is when someone understands what you are saying. Motivation is when they act on it." - John Thompson

"It's the news job to make you anxious and angry. Underlying scientific, economic, education and conflict trends are positive. Stay optimistic." - Naval Ravikant

Joe Rogan - Freedom

 

Monday, August 30, 2021

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

My prediction - if Sirhan Sirhan is granted parole and released he will make hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking engagements talking about "his struggle" and the cause of Palestinian freedom to the very groups that once venerated the memory of RFK. A true illustration of the perversion of values... List of books to read before you die... Jarrett Stidham is truly the forgotten man in New England. Last offseason he was the odds on favorite to replace Tom Brady as the Patriots starting QB but then the Pats signed Cam Newton. Then they drafted Mac Jones in the 1st round. Now Stidham is all but forgotten (and probably soon to be cut from the roster or placed on Injured Reserve)... Great observation and life advice from Michael Lewis via his podcast with Tim Ferriss... SpaceX launched another Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon on Sunday with little fanfare or media coverage. A sure sign that SpaceX launches are now getting so commonplace that they are taken for granted. That's a sign of success... 

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Heroes come in all kinds.

- Bari Weiss (and Substack) have been a great success. Good for her - but not sure where that $800,000 per year figure comes from since 14,000 paying subscribers at $5 each is just $70,000. (Edit - math is hard that's $70,000 PER MONTH - now I go to the penalty box where I will feel the shame.)

- Most of the Kennedy family (and most of America) are against the parole of Sirhan Sirhan.

- The FBI's involvement in the plot to kidnap the Governor of Michigan keeps getting more bizarre

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Saying 'we shouldn't be in Afghanistan' does not mean 'let's get out precipitously.' You don't yank an arrow out of a wounded person's body." - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

"If they can silence you for one reason, they can silence you for any reason." - Naval Ravikant

"Beware taking financial ques from people playing a different game than you are." - Morgan Housel

"I work 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, from the past 15 years. People still call me lucky." - Elon Musk

"IYIs, Intellectuals Yet Idiots, favor things that work in theory but not in practice to things that work in practice but not in theory." - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self." - Ernest Hemingway

Truth


 

Sunday, August 29, 2021

Dave Grohl is the Best

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"It's very common to be utterly brilliant and still think you're way smarter than you actually are." - Charlie Munger

"We're all just guessing, but some of us have fancier math." - Josh Brown

"The desire to be seen as clever often prevents us from becoming so." - Francois de La Rochefoucauld

"All tyranny begins with the desire to coerce others for the greater good." - Naval Ravikant

"Why, Johnny Ringo. You look like someone just walked over your grave." - Doc Holiday 

"Luck is the residue of design." - Branch Rickey

"The price that society is paying for political correctness continues to go up." - Naval Ravikant

Jocko Willink - Good

Saturday, August 28, 2021

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Harsh but fair... Wonder what videos would pop up if you typed "Ayn Rand" into the search bar on YouPorn or PornHub? May have to check that out. That would be amusing to me. Replacing the search words with "Nancy Pelosi" would be terrifying... The vaccines are safe (unless it kills you)... The Olympics stopped having motor boating as an official even back in 1908. That's too bad because that's one activity I could excel at. Wait - what? Not that kind of motor boating? Well never mind then...  Please Justice Breyer - hang in there for 3 more years... And people still wonder why there's so much lingering distrust over the vaccines... One reason the governments of Australia and New Zealand were able to force full lockdowns on the citizens is because there is no Second Amendment in either country. Think about that... 

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- These are the US servicemen killed in the Kabul airport attack.

- Amazon urges FCC to deny SpaceX's plan for second generation Starlink. While the overall impression is Elon Musk is getting things done while Jeff Bezos just protests and cries foul - in this case Amazon may have a point.

- Libertarians correctly predicted the Afghanistan fiasco. (HT Stephen Landry

- Sirhan Sirhan parole board approved his release. Let's hope the Governor rejects the recommendation. People forget but Sirhan was the original Islamic terrorist in this country - killing "Bobby" over Israel's victory in the Six Days War and America's support of Israel.

- Because that's all they seem to care about.

Farnam Street Knowledge

- How to Remember What You Read

- How to Use Occam's Razor without Getting Cut 

- The Power of Incentives: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior

Foo Fighters Cover Tom Sawyer (With Some Help)

 

This makes me smile every time.

Friday, August 27, 2021

More Linky Links

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Hear Sherlock Holmes stories read by the great Christopher Lee. (HT Daddypundit

- Glenn Reynolds: We are told to 'follow the science' - but some of it is just plain wrong

- Shots fired! Is it ironic I came across this on Twitter where Trump is supposedly banned?

- $5.1 million robocalling fine. Good!

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"In the long run, optimists shape the future." - Kevin Kelly

"Every action you take is a vote for they type of person you wish to become." - James Clear

"What people call stubborn isn't someone who doesn't change opinion but anyone who doesn't agree with them." - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

"Distance yourself from people that you don't want to become." - Shane Parrish

"The first rule is that you can't really know anything if you just remember isolated facts and try and bang 'em back. If the facts don't hang together on a latticework of theory, you don't have them in a usable form." - Charlie Munger

"If our small minds, for some convenience, divide this universe, into parts - physics, biology, geology, astronomy, psychology, and so on - remember that nature does not know it!" - Richard Feynman

"We should be optimistic not because our problems are smaller than we thought, but because our capacity to solve them is larger than we thought." - Kevin Kelly

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Heh Heh (Via)

- NYPD's largest police union vows to sue over possible vaccine mandates 

- Flogged with a Turtle! Scallywags!               

- Notre Dame leprechaun considered offensive, according to survey. Do we see this story every year or what? A: leprechauns are mythical and B. how much money do you think Notre Dame makes from "Fighting Irish" merchandise. See you next year stupid story. 

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Someone should edit Clint Eastwood's "Empty Chair" speech from the 2012 RNC convention to replace "Obama" with "Biden." The "empty chair" idea has never been so true in the history of the Presidency as it is today... Still my favorite photo of Prince Charles. I feel it properly captures his essence... Sometimes I come up with good ideas over drinks but I doubt I'll ever come up with anything so good or significant as the US Marine Corps which was created over drinks at the Tun Tavern in Philadelphia on November 10, 1775. The guy who ran the tavern was also named the first official Marine recruiter. God bless the Marines who gave the last full measure of devotion yesterday in Afghanistan... Morgan Housel: Rules, Truths, Beliefs. Some interesting insights... The cynic in me thinks the Democrats and the media will downplay and minimize the events in Afghanistan because to them yesterday at the airport was nothing more than another average weekend in Chicago... 

Joe Biden - Real Men of Genius

 

Video is eight years old - he was that bad even before the dementia kicked in. Scary!

Thursday, August 26, 2021

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Cool nugget from the Football Outsiders Almanac 2021; "[Tom] Brady, we should note, has one more playoff win over NFC opponents than [Drew] Brees does despite only playing a single year in the actual NFC playoff bracket." Not a knock on Brees in any way but just another example of how historically great Brady has been. (Most of Brady's playoff wins over NFC opponents came in 6-Super Bowl victories with the Pats.)... Joe Rogan, confined to Spotify, is losing influence. Agree with the premise but not the metrics and some of the reasoning they use (who cares about Twitter follower gains - after so many appearances how many more followers is a guest expected to get). Yes not having full episodes on YouTube hurts Rogan's reach but doesn't effect download numbers (why download an episode if you've already watched it on YouTube?). Besides one of the reasons Spotify gave Rogan so much money is as the flagship draw for Spotify's own video platform. As an aside I just added the Spotify app to my phone specifically for Rogan's podcast... Very effective ad. I couldn't help but wonder how (or how long before) the Big Tech firms would censor its distribution... Matt Ridley: Playing the Wild Card. "'Rewilding' is fashionable but there is more to it than letting Nature run free." Hiking in New England it is not unusual to run into a stone wall in the middle of the forest because back in Colonial days that area used to be a farm - but is now uninhabited "rewilded" forest... 

More Linky Links

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Steven Pressfield: The Mission Like a Movie. More Fighter Pilot Wisdom.

- Interesting bit of baseball history; The incredible story of Ray Caldwell, the MLB pitcher who survived a lightning strike to finish a game.

- Climate Scientists Make Us Skeptical. Solid argument but I admit I was distracted by the fact creepy Laurence Krauss and his Jeffrey Epstein connections was the main antagonist.

- Director of CDC, Rochelle Walenski warns of ADE, Antibody Dependent Enhancement. Be sure to listen to the videos as well. Potentially scary stuff. 

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Noah Smith: Epistemic trespassing, or epistemic squatting? Love the phrase "epistemic trespassing" and I agree with Smith's overall argument. (As an aside - The Epistemic Trespasser would be a great name for a blog.)

- For the record - I called this trade. (Except I said a 3rd round pick but it looks like they'll get a 4th instead.)

- Heh Heh

- This gives off a serious mad-scientist vibe.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

 

Somewhere Over the Rainbow played on a 1929 Theremin. Cool!

Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Sean Freaking Connery - Legend


 

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Don't blame Cam Newton for not being vaccinated. He had COVID last season so should have anti-bodies. If you had the flu - would it make sense for you to get a flu booster vaccine to protect you from getting that same flu again? They're both viruses... Dr. Gay Hitler, son of George Washington Hitler... Do you recall when comments on posts and message boards were relatively new and some people made a big deal about being the first to post a comment? "Firsties" should have been a warning sign of how stupid a place the Internet can be. Thank God public shaming eventually put an end to that practice...  Nothing could usher crypto currency in faster than Amazon accepting Bitcoin or Etherium as payment methods. Could you imagine the impact that could have?... Disney fires back at Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow lawsuit... One way to stay sane yet also stay informed is in your head add the words, "In accordance to the prophesies" in front of any newspaper headline you read. So for example, "In accordance to the prophesies Disney fires back at Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow lawsuit." See how fun that can be?..  

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Sadly true - The Forever War Isn't Over

- In the race between SpaceX and other NASA contractors to get Americans back to the moon - my money's on SpaceX

- Interesting - The Meme Economy. "Quantifying the value of culture creation with crypto." 

- Kevin Kelly - The Case for Optimism. "In the long run, optimists shape the future." To borrow Matt Ridley's phrase, I consider myself to be a rational optimist. (HT Newmark's Door)

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"When you say yes to others, make sure you are not saying no to yourself." - Paulo Coelho

"Biden is remaining popular within his base, which now includes the Taliban." - Scott Adams

"We will stay until the mission is done." - George W. Bush

"Inspiration is perishable, act on it immediately." - Naval Ravikant

"Hockey is a fast game, but not so fast that you can't think about what you're doing before you do it." - Cam Neely

"Men cannot do without beauty, and this is what our era pretends to want to disregard." - Albert Camus

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

The History of the Earth


 

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I am mentally preparing myself for American hostages and increased loss of life in Afghanistan - where we may have to go back in because of the way the situation was mishandled. I also fully expect that the worst images will be shown by the foreign press as US media tries to downplay any potentially damaging images to the Biden Administration... Reminder that Jacqueline Bisset pretty much single-handedly created the Wet T-Shirt craze in the late 70's early 80's after her appearance in the movie The Deep... Pretty sure I'm not friends with anyone who disagrees with giving Afghan interpreters US citizenship. And also pretty sure I wouldn't want to know anyone who would disagree with that policy... Buying "carbon off-sets" to me always seemed like the modern equivalent of rich Northerners paying for replacements to fight for them in the Civil War. And just as hypocritical... I went to years of Catholic School and we were never told that Saint Peter - the Rock on which Jesus built his church - was married. Wonder why the Catholic Church conveniently forgot that aspect of Peter's life?... 

Charlie Munger on Reading


 

Monday, August 23, 2021

More Linky Links

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Peter Attia: How Do we Do Drugs Now? And Bob Ross paintings. Two separate subjects but I assumed they went together (just like back in college). 

- After the Fall. "The people running the country are incompetent. Is there a leader left in America?" There's plenty of "Influencers but "leaders?" Not so much.

- Noah Smith: Why has the Gig economy become a disappointment?

- Would like to know the story behind this sign.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

-VDH: Ripples of Kabul

- A reminder of why you should never mess with US Marines

- Niall Ferguson on Biden's desertion of Afghanistan

- Avoiding jargon

- This was cool.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you. 

"I know of nothing more despicable and pathetic than a man who devotes all the waking hours of the day to the making of money for money's sake." - John D. Rockefeller

"Beware false prophets, who will come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits." - Matthew 7:15-16

"Excellence is the next five minutes... Forget the long term. Make the next five minutes rock!" - Tom Peters

"The mind requires some relaxation, and cannot support its bent to care and industry." - David Hume

"Create all the happiness you are able to create: remove all the misery you are able to remove." - Jeremy Bentham 

"It is essential that we not respond impulsively... take a moment before reacting, and you will find it is easier to maintain control." - Epictetus

"Discipline creates opportunity." - Shane Parrish

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

 Am I the only one waiting for one of those Hitler in the Bunker videos to come out about the fall of Afghanistan?...  If there are to be vaccine mandates - shouldn't the first three places to be mandated be the entire work forces of Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson? If anyone refuses the vaccine or doesn't get the second "jab" - shouldn't the number of people who opt against it and their reasons also be made public? Even the CEO of Pfizer reportedly hasn't gotten his second stab. If there are real issues with the vaccines these are the folks who would know. Sort of like how Big Tech firm executives won't let their own kids use social media because THEY KNOW... I think it's hard to argue that the country wouldn't be in much better hands if it were either President Tulsi Gabbard or President Trump... The Los Angeles Rams keep losing running backs while the New England Patriots depth chart is stacked. Guessing if everyone remains healthy then the Pats will wind up dealing RB Sony Michael to Rams for a 3rd round pick... If you have trouble dealing with politics these days - try imagining Joe Biden as Frankenberry and Donald Trump as Count Chocula. A dumb, incompetent Frankenberry... Hill I'll die on - a BLT should 100% also count as a breakfast sandwich... 

Heh Heh


 

Sunday, August 22, 2021

Bridge Over Troubled Water Covered by Elvis

 


Before there was Disturbed covering The Sound of Silence.

There was the King covering Bridge Over Troubled Waters.

Linky Links

Some stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

This says alot about both men.

- Edgar Allen Poe's Final Macabre Mystery: His Own Death (HT Daddypundit)

This says alot about the safety of the vaccines.

- Austin Bay: Biden's Afghanistan Disaster Didn't Have to Happen

This face-swap with the queen always makes me chuckle.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"A glory that costs everything and means nothing." - Steve Erickson

"Exotic car companies don't run commercials on TV because their customers aren't sitting around watching TV. Let that sink in." - Richard Cooper

"Flying by the seat of your pants precedes crashing by the seat of your pants." - Bill Walsh

"It's common for the peanut gallery to think they could have done a better job than the experts. The unusual thing about Afghanistan is that in this case they're probably right." - Paul Graham

"I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery." - Thomas Jefferson

"Who makes us ignorant? We ourselves. We put our hands over our eyes and weep that it is dark." - Swami Vivekananda

"What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right." - Albert Einstein

Truth


 

Saturday, August 21, 2021

Today I Join "the Free"

Intoxication is an antidote to cognitive control, a way to temporarily hamstring that opponent to creativity, cultural openness, and communal bonding...

Dionysus appeals to the more ancient, primitive regions of our brain, those dedicated to sex, emotions, movement, touch...

We need to become looser - one of Dionysus' alternative names in Latin was Liber, "The Free." 

From Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization by Edward Slingerland.

Today I intend to be part of "the free" - that's to say I plan to drink.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Apple's photo scanning plan faces global backlash from 90 rights groups.

- Twitter is a hell of a drug

- Well the Raiders always did value an outlaw persona.

- The official government reporting of the enemy in Afghanistan was always shit.

- News you can use from NPR 

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Is it just me or does it seem like some of the early Tom Cruise movies like Risky Business and All the Right Moves have just disappeared into the ether? You hardly ever hear about those movies anymore or see them on TV or on any of the streaming services. Strange... MLB to end 70-year relationship with Topps. Tradition means nothing anymore to those who run the game. Citizens should ban together for a class-action suit to prevent MLB from ever referring to itself as "America's Pastime" ever again... Some Ancient Indian wisdom says your should never eat your next meal until you feel hunger pangs. The feeling of hunger is your body's signal to you that the previous meal has been digested and that your body is ready for you to eat again. Simple wisdom but so wise... My idea of multi-tasking is reading in the morning while drinking hot coffee or reading at night while drinking a cold beer... In light of what's happening in Afghanistan - I have the urge to re-read David Halberstam's The Best and the Brightest for perspective (though I highly doubt anyone in the Biden Administration could be called either "the best" or "the brightest" with a straight face)...  

This One Hits Close to Home


 Via

Friday, August 20, 2021

Sultans of Swing

 


I've said it before but Mark Knopfler is perhaps the most underappreciated artist/musician of the past 60-years.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- This should be his official Presidential Portrait

- Niall Ferguson: 50 Years After Going Off Gold, the Dollar Must Go for Crypto.

- Glenn Greewald: The US Government Lied for Two Decades about Afghanistan

- Remember. Some powerful writing.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

A spot-on nickname for either Joe Biden or Kamala Harris at this point would be "the Albatross" because both have become like albatrosses around the neck of the Democratic Party. Biden for his legacy of incompetence (after just 8 f*cking months!) and Harris for her pure unlikability... Matt Taibbi: We Failed Afghanistan - Not the Other Way Around. The cynic in me can't help but think that at least the silver lining is the billions that were being spent on waste, fraud and corruption in Afghanistan can now be used to pay the rising interest on the national debt due to the inflation caused by Biden's failing economic polices... "Soiree" is not a word you hear much, if at all, anymore. What happened? Did people stop having soirees?... I had forgotten how dark a writer James Ellroy was. An excellent writer but dark, very dark... Meanwhile in Sweden... And speaking of writers - The Lexophile would be a good name for a blog about books...  Still say the Spanish National Anthem has the best official lyrics... 

Truth


 

Thursday, August 19, 2021

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Biden's most heartless betrayal.

- Interesting life advice from John D. Rockefeller of all people.

- Hume the Humane. David "Hume believed we were nothing more or less than human: that's why he's the amiable, modest, generous philosopher we need now." 

- Heh Heh - and Chicago to shortly follow suit

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Wealth consists not in having great possessions but in having few wants." - Epictetus

"The more sweat on the training field, the less blood on the battlefield." - Col. David Hackworth

"Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our responsibility for the future." - John F. Kennedy

"If you accomplish something good with hard work, the labor passes quickly, but the good endures. If you do something shameful in pursuit of pleasure, the pleasure passes quickly but the shame endures." - Gaius Musonius Rufus

"Always carry bolt cutters." - Werner Herzog

"If you don't want to go to the meeting right now, your future self won't want to go do it later, either." - Naval Ravikant

"Many people die at 25 and aren't buried until they are 75." - Ben Franklin

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

The Lancet used to be known as an "esteemed medical journal" but now is widely known as that "leftwing medical journal." If you think that's a step in the right direction you probably also call people "comrade" on the regular... In work emails to people I do business with but haven't communicated with in a while I'll say "Hope all is well" either at the beginning or end of the email. Thinking of changing that to "I hope all is hell" to people I dislike and if called on it just blame it on Spell Check... Seriously have to believe that some schools teaching creationism in the 1980's did a lot less damage to society and the children involved than the damage Critical Race Theory is doing to society and the children of today... Getting your information from curated Substack writers is like drinking fine microbrew beers. Getting your information from the MSM is like drinking skunky Busch Light. Don't drink skunky cheap beer... And speaking of the MSM - Proctodeal Trophollaxis is such a cool cool way to say "ass-licking." The MSM is doing a lot of proctodeal trophollaxis of the Biden Administration... 

Truth


 

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

More Linky Links

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- If you weren't already done with SNL - you should be after reading this. Bunch of unfunny sleezebags. 

- Steven Pressfield: "Dvekut baMesima" - what a powerful phrase!

- Economic signs are not good.

- How the origins of COVID-19 were obscured. Don't trust China - China is asshole!

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Denmark says goodbye to masks and all COVID rules.

About Afghanistan

- A history of Spenser Gifts

- Analysis - true!

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Did you ever start reading a book and suddenly realize, "Wait I've read this before." Just had that experience with James Ellroy's LA Confidential. Only once the book was in my hands did I realize I had already read it (remembered reading The Black Dahlia but forgot I read this one too)... Porn Stache Donald Trump would be a good name for a lesbian Gordon Lightfoot cover band... Once I got a hundred pages into a biography of Jack Dempsey before realizing I had already that book... Not sure about you but I find myself actively avoiding any news or articles about Afghanistan because they are just making me sad and upset. It's a mental health thing. My condolences to anyone who served there or who had family members who did. This must be an extremely bitter pill to swallow... Having said that I feel I must comment on people noting that Joe Biden saying "the buck stops here" during his Afghanistan speech doesn't mean what he thinks it means. Most people get this wrong. As Truman meant it - it is a poker term meaning the dealer's "buck" (aka puck) stops here. That meant it was Truman's turn to pick a game (aka strategy or policy) and he wasn't going to shy away from that responsibility and pass the deal. Sadly the way Biden is going if he does pick a game I'm afraid it will be "Crazy Eights" while all the other world leaders are playing poker...   

Truth


 

Tuesday, August 17, 2021

More Linky Links

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- How often do underdogs win outright in college football? Interesting - underdogs of between 10.5-14 points win one out of every five games while underdogs of 7.5 -10 points win outright one out of every four games.

- Sweden - "the country the media loved to hate is reaping the best of all worlds: Few current cases and deaths, stronger economic growth than the lockdown countries, and its people never experienced the yoke of tyranny."

- Some good news out of Africa

- Flying X-Wings Into the Death Star: Andreessen on investing and tech. A long read but Marc Andreessen interviews are ALWAYS worth the time.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

The Truth About Mental Models with Shane Parrish. Good stuff!

- Matt Taibbi: The Vanishing Legacy of Barack Obama. Outside of racial divisiveness - name one lasting foreign or domestic accomplishment of Obama during his 8-years as President. Exactly! 

- VDH: American Armageddon. "What started off as elite woke nonsnse now warps everyone's daily lives."

- Analysis true!

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

So there was a COVID outbreak on Martha's Vineyard with about 63 people testing positive just after Obama's maskless birthday bash but very little has been made of that fact in the media. Remember last year when 500,000 maskless people gathered in Sturgis for Bike Week and the media had an orgy calling it a super spreader event even though there were just 70 positive COVID cases in the aftermath? Gross hypocrisy anyone?... The Golf Channel is an older man's porn for many (except with less shame)...  The withdrawal from Afghanistan literally happened over Donald Rumsfeld's dead body. Meanwhile Dick Cheney had lots to say about Trump being mean to his daughter but oddly quiet over Joe Biden's FUBAR handling of Afghanistan. Cheney is a pimp... Petrified Lizards would be a good name for a band... It will be interesting to see how much, if any, campaigning President Biden does for candidates in the 2022 elections. My guess is very, very little. Candidates will probably tell VP Harris point blank to stay away... Andrew Luck retired just before the 2019 NFL season and we haven't heard anything from him since. My guess is that he's happy in retirement... 

Alec Baldwin's Glengary Glen Ross Speech

Monday, August 16, 2021

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- This did not age well.

- Matt Ridley: Rejoice, the Earth is Getting Greener (from 2-years ago but we need some good news today) 

- The news out of Afghanistan is making me physically ill.

- 50 Fictional Librarians - Ranked. Mary from It's a Wonderful Life should have been much, much higher on the list.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

How ironic would it be if Jeffrey Epstein was actually murdered by Harry Reid because Epstein had proof that Reid really was a pedophile... Two things: first you know he turns the channel when Jeopardy! comes on because "that's a smart person's show" and second how scary is it that this easily could be a real picture?... Speaking of TV shows - here's a TV show idea. A take-off on Cash Cab but contestants get into a van/cab with Snoop Dogg in back and after 10 minutes of being hotboxed they win money if they can answer questions - including what their original destination was... Interesting perspective from Steve Jobs from 1994... The name Manhattan started out as "Manahatchtaniek" which is Lenape Indian for "the island where we all became intoxicated" after the Indians were made totally drunk by the Dutch...

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"People who are brutally honest generally enjoy the brutality more than the honesty." - Richard Needham

"The game of life is the game of everlasting learning. At least it is if you want to win." - Charlie Munger

"God will not have his work made manifest by cowards." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The best place to store food is in the belly of a friend." - African proverb

"The Democratic Party in power is a standing menace to the prosperity of the country." - Republican motto from the 1888 election.

"You are 99 years old, you are on your deathbed, and you have a chance to come back to right now. What do you do?" - Christopher Carmichael

"Let all your activity be directed to some object, let it have some end in view." - Seneca

Charles Bukowski

 

Today would have been Charles Bukowski's 101st birthday. One of my life goals is to outlive him (he lived to 75-years of age).

Sunday, August 15, 2021

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Why Everything We Thought About Drugs Was Wrong. "Progressive cities like San Francisco are directly financing the drug death crisis." Some good, hard questions are asked at the end. (HT Execupundit)

- If Einstein Had the Internet: An Interview with Balaji Srinivasan. Balaji is one of the smartest guys around.

- Congrats to Patriots great Andre Tippett on a well-deserved honor.

- Purple Heart Stockpile: The medals made in anticipation for the invasion of Japan are still being issued today. Truman 100% made the right decision to drop the bombs.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Dreading seeing either a pumpkin spice coffee or beer being advertised. You know it's coming any day now. It makes me sad because pumpkin spice products normally signal the end of summer but by the same token also usually means the start of football... Amusing to see Tim Tebow referred to as "former outfielder for the Birmingham Rumble Ponies, Tim Tebow"... The book I'd like to read is a fictional autobiography of Huggy Bear from Starsky and Hutch. First person style just like the book Grendel by John Gardner... Thinking of adopting the phrase "Pax et bonum" as my all-purpose greeting. It translated as "Peace and all good" and I think it could be used the same way Hawaiians use "Aloha"... Four Dimensional Symmetry would be a good name for a blog... Richard Feynman, one of the top 5 minds of the 20th century, was tested in high school as having an IQ of 125. Goes to show you what IQ tests are worth... 

Life Advice


 Via

Saturday, August 14, 2021

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Attention Old Takes Exposed - from back when Tesla stock was less than $300 a share.  

- Pretty good points.

- Laws for the Navigation of Life

- Heh Heh

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I'd be OK with vaccine passports if it also became mandatory for any candidate or incumbent for political elected office had to first pass the current test immigrants have to pass on US history and civics in order to become citizens. The argument of "what's the big deal?" is equally valid for both issues. Looking at you AOC and other members of "the Squad"...  Heh Heh... Amused by fact I've heard a number of people refer to the vaccine now as a "stab" instead of a "jab." Gives a slightly different meaning to, "Let Big Pharma jab you." Wonder if "Let Big Pharma stab you" is actually more accurate though... The City of Worcester grew by over 25,000 in the latest census giving the Heart of the Commonwealth a total of 206,518 and keeping it the second largest city in New England. Suck it Hartford, Providence, and Portland!... Never noticed this before but supermarkets put the most colorful, sugar-filled cereals on the bottom two shelves to catch the eyes and be well within reach of little kids... Both President Biden and VP Kamala Harris are distressed assets...  

Advice from Dionysus


Three cups only do I propose for sensible men, one for health, the second for love and pleasure and the third for sleep; when this has been drunk up, wise guests make for home. The fourth cup is mine no longer, but belongs to hubris; the fifth to shouting; the sixth to revel; the seventh to black eyes; the eighth to summonses; the ninth to bile; and the tenth to madness and people tossing the furniture about.  

Good drinking advice from Ancient Greece via the book Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization

Friday, August 13, 2021

More Linky Links

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Matt Ridley: The "experts" thought it was a lab leak from the start. (By the way "volte face" means "about face" or turn 180 degrees - my 4 years of Latin finally pay off!)

- Matt Clancy: Is entrepreneurship a learned social trait

- There's a reason Democrat Party controlled teacher's unions and universities want to downplay or outright change the facts of our history.

- Heh heh - prodigal son kicked back out after old Tweets surface.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Chinese Media Fabricated "Swiss Biologist" Who Claimed US had Pressured WHO Into Investigating Wuhan Lab Leak Theory. Don't trust China. China is asshole! 

- 1 in 5 kids will be homeschooled this fall. That's a seismic change in education (and teacher's unions have nobody to blame but themselves).

- Inspirational!

- And talk about inspirational! Love you too.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Mental toughness is doing the right thing for the team when it's not the best thing for you." - Bill Belichick

"You should be proud of life every day, because life is so beautiful." - Wim Hof

"Best shrew fact is that they shrink their brains by 20% in winter to save energy. How long before the environmental movement demands we do the same?" - Matt Ridley

"The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong in the broken places." - Ernest Hemingway

"Why anyone would expect better decisions to be made by third parties who pay no price for being wrong is one of the mysteries of our time." - Thomas Sowell

"Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself." - Marcus Aurelius

Why the Hype Around Hypersonics?

Thursday, August 12, 2021

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Just the (COVID) Facts, Ma'am. Interesting arguments. Come for the data - stay for the colorful language! (HT Borepatch who adds a few thoughts of his own

- Speaking of vaccines - new study indicated Pfizer vaccine just 42% effective vs Delta variant. "The study raises serious questions about both vaccines' long-term effectiveness, particularly Pfizer's."

- Donald Kagan RIP

- The Point of Diminishing Returns

Alternate History - USSR vs China

We often engage in historical "what if's" such as "what if Robert E. Lee had won at Gettysburg?" Or "what if Hitler had never opened a second front against Russia in WWII?"

This post about Communist China got me thinking once again about one of my favorite historical "what if's" - "what if Nixon had never gone to China?"

Most forget but in 1969 Russia and China were very close to an all-out war. According to Henry Kissinger, it was this fact that spurred much of the US's policies towards both countries with Nixon supporting China because he "decided that it was against American national interest to have China defeated." The side benefit of such a strategy, again according to Kissinger, was that "the opening to China facilitated the opening to Moscow and vice versa."

The first few years after the opening to China the biggest fear on the part of the Chinese was still an attack from Russia which made the nascent relationship with the US all the more important as a counterbalance against Soviet aggression. But, again, what if Nixon had never made the opening to China and instead allowed a conflict between Russia and China to play out?

I'm convinced the US followed the correct policy in the late 20th century of standing on the sidelines as the Iran-Iraq war played out with both sides fighting each other to a bloody standstill. What if we had done the same here? I'm guessing that Russia would have initially had the upper hand but the sheer numbers of the Chinese could have bled Russia white the way they later were in Afghanistan in the 1980's.

With both sides focusing their country's resources on each other there also would have been little or no support for either North Vietnam or North Korea. The history of both of those nations also could have been vastly different. We may even have had a unified Korea today as a result.

Taiwan, aka the Republic of China, could been allowed to grow and prosper in relative security with US arms and the protection of the US Navy. A strong Taiwan might have even been positioned to pick up the pieces from a failed Communist China after the shooting war ended.

Instead we have our current situation.

Of course another "what if" that has to be considered is what if the USSR was losing so much men and material that they decided it would be easier to just nuke Beijing? That's a "what if" that doesn't have such rosy outcomes.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Cool story on remembering where you came from via the Buffalo Bills.

- New study estimates the percentage of those in Texas with naturally occurring antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 is 35.3% and total estimated immunity in Texas is 69.1%. That sounds a lot like herd immunity to me.

- Sherlock Holmes on information overload. (HT Morgan Housel)

- Speaking of Morgan Housel - (History) Hanging By a Thread

Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Sailing to Philadelphia

 

More Linky Links

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Glenn Reynolds: Mask bullies don't want to persuade you - but to humiliate and rule you.

- Harry Truman's finances weren't what we were led to believe. Slightly disappointed by this revelation but hardly surprised. (HT Newmark's Door)

- Steven Pressfield: Write the Big Moment Big

- Holy crap! Bambi is a stone cold killer if you mess with Thumper!

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Just a reminder that a good percentage of your tax dollars go to pay the interest on the National Debt every year. Our National Debt is going through the roof because of all the wasteful spending out of Washington and this will couple with the inflation that is being caused by the mismanagement of the economy by these self-same folks. The amount we US citizens will have to pay on the interest on the national debt is about to skyrocket and this story is seemingly not getting any attention in the media... Noah Smith - Does America really lose all it's wars?  He pegs our post WWII "record" at 15-2-3 and I don't agree with all his assumptions or conclusions (Iraq was never about oil). What fascinated me was I didn't recognize a number of the wars he listed (and I consider myself a pretty historically literate fellow). Operation Beleaguer (1945-49)? Operation Observant Compass (2011-17)? Are some of these really wars?... If I were to start a new religion I'd call it Bill Belichick's Cult of Personality. I think that would be amusing. Wonder if I could get tax-exempt status?... Psychedelic Apples would be a good name for a Grateful Dead or Phish cover band... There is absolutely no Fortune 500 company that would hire either Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi as CEO yet here they both are running the entire economy. How does that make you feel?...  

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Glenn Greenwald: The NSA's Inspector General Opens Investigation Into Allegations of Illegal Spying on Tucker Carlson

- UN "We have 10-Years to Stop the Catastrophe" (1972)

- Interesting $100,000 contest - a censorship-resistant Inflation Dashboard that doesn't rely on government data. Those two components - being censorship-resistant and not relying on government data are so key (sadly just as much for US data as for China's).

 - What's Behind the Conservative Rift on the Supreme Court. "As Republicans have learned, nominating a justice with a conservative track record is no guarantee of what kind of justice he or she will be if they don't take into account the institutional axis." Excellent way of looking at things.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"And it is also true that, like orange juice and Listerine, the [Cleveland] Browns and high expectations simply don't go well together." - Football Outsiders Almanac 2021

"Dogs are intrinsically motivated to run after the scent that excites them the most. Be like a dog." - Andrew Kirby

"The people who have lied to you every single day for the past several years are now confused that you don't trust them." - Zuby

"The war against the virus is going as well as the war on drugs and the war in Afghanistan." - Scott Adams

"If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing." - Malcolm X

"Don't be overheard complaining... not even to yourself." - Marcus Aurelius

Tuesday, August 10, 2021

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Crypto may have been saved in the Senate. God help any Senator running for re-election who votes against this.

- VDH - The Great Leftist Bully Boy Hope

- Heh Heh - analysis true! (With no aspersions meant towards Matthew M.)

- Truth, Status and Tribes - by Erik Torenberg

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Democratic Party; Hey Silicon Valley is firmly behind us - what can we do to try and change that? "I know - let's slip an anti-crypto currency rider into the 'Infrastructure Bill' and not allow any amendments to fix that." You're a genius Chumley!... I still believe that NO non-profit or tax exempt organization should be allowed to pay a salary to any executives or employees more than the President of the US (currently about $400,000 a year). So places like Harvard that pays its President about $1.7 million would lose tax-exempt status...  Pfizer CEO cancels Israel visit because he's not fully vaccinated. This seems like bit of a red flag and "I didn't want to jump ahead of the line" also seems like a very weak excuse... Freebird!... I have to wonder how there hasn't been a mutiny against Nancy Pelosi by Democrats in Congress. Seriously! She was already heading many of the House members towards election losses in 2022 and now she jeopardizes the Infrastructure Bill by allowing the Crypto Rider - something very few if any politicians understand in the first place. She's unwittingly mobilizing many formerly non-political, tech-savvy, rich people into Single Issue voters. And probably right into the arms of the Republicans too. How is that good leadership?... This guy is spitting fire (and truth). I want a copy of that thumb drive... 

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"When building habits, choose consistency over content. The best book is one you can't put down. The best exercise is the one you enjoy doing every day. The best health food is the one you find tasty. The best work is the work you'd do for free." - Naval Ravikant

"If women knew what we were really thinking - they would never stop slapping us." - Larry Miller

"It is because we left the State to people who can only inherit and can't build that we got the current state of San Francisco." - Balaji Srinivasan

"Pick one thing. Cultivate a desire. Visualize it. Plan a sustainable path. Identify needs, triggers, and substitutes. Tell your friends. Track meticulously. Self-discipline is a bridge to a new self-image. It's who you are, now." - Naval Ravikant

"Trust is the most important currency on the planet. And it's something you can't buy. You have to earn it." - Michael Batnick

"Get busy with life's purpose, toss aside empty hopes, get active in your own rescue." - Marcus Aurelius

Knowledge from Naval Ravikant


 

Monday, August 09, 2021

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Adumbrations of Aducanumab. The FDA is a broken bureaucracy, "people are going to come away from this with some conclusion like 'wow, the FDA seemed really unprepared to handle COVID.' No. It's not that specific. Every single thing the FDA does is like this." (BTW "adumbrations" means reports or represents in outline. I had to look it up.)

- Xi Jinping's Tech Crackdown Ignores Bigger Problems Facing China.

- Something Money Can't Buy. "Your truth and the truth are not always the same thing. The truth is a fact. Your truth is just an opinion. Nobody values somebody who is honest about their opinions if their opinion always suck."

- Heh Heh

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Develop into a lifelong self-learner through voracious reading; cultivate curiosity and strive to become a little wiser each day." - Charlie Munger 

"Science is interesting. If you disagree, you can fuck off." - Richard Dawkins

"I think in life you should work on yourself until the day you die." - Serena Williams

"A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it, is committing another mistake." - Confucius

"Forbidden Fruit can get you into some Bad Jams." - Bumper Sticker

"I did not intend to get rich. I just wanted to get independent." - Charlie Munger

"The Spartans do not ask how many are the enemy, but where are they." - Plutarch

Life Advice


 

Sunday, August 08, 2021

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"If you want to be a clear thinker, you cannot pay attention to politics. It will destroy your ability to think." - Naval Ravikant

"Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?" - Monty Python

"Character - the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life - is the source from which self-respect springs." - Joan Didion

"I have no idea what the Democratic Party stands for because they won't tell you." - Herschel Walker

"Some people ask you a question with their eyes begging you not to tell them the truth." - Nassim Taleb

"Birds born in a cage think flying is an illness." - Alejandro Jodorowsky

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." - Teddy Roosevelt

Farnam Street Knowledge

Niccolo Machiavelli and the Four Princes of Pragmatism

- The Buffett Formula: Going to Bed Smarter than When You Woke Up

- Why Math Class is Boring - And What to Do About It

Saturday, August 07, 2021

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- VDH: Vaccination Weaponization

- Exhaustive study on origin of pandemic - "most scientists and media resist evidence when it challenges a zoonotic origin or supports a lab leak. These new results do both."

- AI recognizes racial identity in medical images. Not a "social construct" but an important factor in properly diagnosing and treating ailments.

- Matt Ridley: Playing the wild card

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Truly believe that NBA TV ratings have been declining for years in large part because seeing a game in person has become too expensive for the average fan. Is it any wonder that these fans lose interest in a sporting event they can't afford? And if average fans aren't bringing their kids to games - that just means fewer new fans in the future... NFL betting note for the upcoming season - despite a 5-11 record the Carolina Panthers only lost 2-games by 8 or more points. Carolina may be worth a few bucks if they are ever getting 7+ points this season (of course if Sam Darnold starts seeing ghosts then I may rethink this idea)... All Aboard Heaven's Choo-Choo... What ever happened to Beto O'Rourke? Remember when the media tried to make Beto a thing? Maybe open borders and taking people's guns wasn't such a good message from the DNC (Beto was poster boy for both issues)... Still say Portland should be re-named New Detroit... Cool news - Walter Isaacson is working on a biography on Elon Musk. Isaacson's past biography subject's included Leonardo Da Vinci, Ben Franklin, and Steve Jobs...  

Saratoga


 Up in Saratoga. Going to bet some money on the ponies. Wish me luck.

Farnam Street Knowledge

The Observer Effect: Seeing is Changing

- Second-Order Thinking: What Smart People Use to Outperform

- The Meaning of History. (Recently read Will and Ariel Durant's The Lessons of History and was so impressed that I can tell that it's one of those books that get re-read.)

Friday, August 06, 2021

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"I got nothin' against mankind. It's people I can't stand." - Archie Bunker

"The first rule in handling conflict is don't hang around people who are constantly engaging in conflict." - Naval Ravikant

"Respect yourself enough to walk away from anything that no longer serves you, or makes you happy." - Robert Tew

"...if we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find that we have lost the future." - Winston Churchill

"A heuristic on whether you have control of your life: can you take naps?" - Nassim Taleb

"Little man whip a big man every time if the little man's in the right and keeps a' comin'." - Motto of the Texas Rangers

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Starlink's latest reported speeds are 97 Mbps down and 14 Mbps up.  Pretty good but the upload speeds may bot be acceptable for many applications.

- 4.5% of the general adult population are psychopaths. Yeah but are they vaccinated?

- I want this painting

- Article may be sensational but truth is getting accurate VAERS data is near impossible. And the question has to be asked - why is that? My guess is the true number of adverse reaction deaths to the vaccines will dwarf the number of elderly deaths in nursing homes. Skeptical about the high number of children being paralyzed though.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Wonder if a company like Aflac came out with an insurance policy against vaccine related negative side effects if that could work as an employer provided inducement for a company to reach 100% vaccination levels? On the flip side - if the insurance actuaries at Aflac say the risks of such policies are too great then what would that say about why the FDA hasn't approved the vaccines yet?... Love this quote from Machiavelli on the power of a good library or book... Does anyone remember last August when Stugis went ahead with Bike Week amid all the predictions of doom and despite over 500,000 people attending there was no super spreader event? The media tried to create one out of whole cloth but I believe there were only about 70 COVID cases and no deaths... Once you see it... Just a reminder - there is no vaccine for stupidity... 

One of My Favorite Venn Diagrams


 

Thursday, August 05, 2021

More Linky Links

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Interesting - Cleveland Guardians trademark may be stuck in a roller derby jam.

- Matt Ridley: Environmentalists have got it wrong - we're not facing an insect apocalypse.

- Matt Taibbi - Vaccine Success, Media Misery: Is Good News Taboo in the Trump Age?

- Distrust of authorities, decline in tax revenues, and just overall frustration - why new lockdowns are increasingly unlikely in US

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- China Doubles Down on Coal Despite Global Push to Go Green. Complete double-standards for China versus the US from environmentalists.

- Reminder of what 2020 was like.

- Steven Pressfield: Coco Chanel's advice to writers.

- Fibonacci was an unsung hero of Western Civilization.

-  Interesting - A Billion Here, a Billion There: Crypto Remittances are Suddenly Real Money. "When foreign workers send money home, banks take a cut. Till crypto."  

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

If the White House were to announce Grima Wormtongue as the new Press Secretary - would that be an upgrade or a lateral move over the current one?... Change my mind: the hardest thing to do in sports is to score a goal in the 5-hole on a water polo goalie. Think about it... First or second chair?... Word of the day, "Akrasia" - Greek word that translates as a "weakness of will" but in practice means to know what should be done but still not doing it. I like this word... Donate Bloob... Reminder the culture of the Dallas Mavericks was a sexual harassment, #MeToo nightmare before going all-in on the Black Lives Matter movement. Perhaps if Harvey Weinstein said he was going all-in on BLM instead of promising to go after the NRA all would have been forgiven...  

Wednesday, August 04, 2021

Physics Joke


 

Johnny Appleseed

 

You don't hear this song nearly enough. Still miss Joe Strummer.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Interesting

VDH: Incompetence + Arrogance = Woke

- Right-leaning social media platform gets 1.5 million users in just 11 days. Intrigued by the proposed "tip" function. Also Parler seems to be rising from the ashes after the attempts by Big Tech to kill it.

- One does have to wonder if White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain is really running things.

- This is an important story that isn't going away. Although to be honest - I was distracted by the vaccinated Ted Cruz wearing a mask. What's up with that?

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

The Democratic Party really seems to be in a pickle. It is becoming increasingly clear that Joe Biden is cognitively not up for the job but also clear that Kamala Harris is so unpopular that she might become a boat anchor for the entire party. What to do? What to do?...  And I wrote the above before reading this article from Victor Davis Hanson. Perhaps great minds think alike (or maybe the problem is just that glaringly obvious despite what the media is not telling us)... I always wanted to visit Australia but after the latest lockdown - not so much anymore... McDonalds says all CUSTOMERS and employees in high COVID areas must wear masks no matter vaccination status. McDonalds stock down $8 since announcement ($244.69 on 8/2 and $236.00 on 8/3). Sure it's unrelated... Celebrity Death Match used to be a big show on MTV. I enjoyed it but today I'd really like to see a Celebrity Rascal Scooters Racing with the first match between Rob Reiner and Rosie O'Donnell. You'd watch that - wouldn't you?... I predicted a couple of weeks ago that failing or struggling brands would try to boost exposure or revenues by simply rebranding themselves by adding a "+" sign or the word "Plus" to the end of their name and shortly thereafter we saw Outside+ and the joke that is CNN+. Now we see the media trying to rebrand the Delta variant as the Delta Plus variant. What does that say about the seriousness of the variant and the lack of the public buying into new lockdowns?...