Thursday, September 30, 2021

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"The more vehemently they condemn it, the less of an argument they actually have." - Naval Ravikant

"To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting." - Edmund Burke

"A bow tie announces to the world that you can no longer get an erection." - David Sedaris

"Learn by trying to understand simple things in terms of other ideas - always honestly and directly." - Richard Feynman

"Tune out society and its endless and noisy demands." - Naval Ravikant

"Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers." - Voltaire

"The six best doctors in the world are sun, rest, exercise, diet, self-esteem, and friends. Keep them at all stages of your life and enjoy a healthy life." - Charlie Chaplin

Linky Links

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

- Steven Pressfield: Just write the damn thing! "Resistance takes many forms."

- Glenn Greenwald: An NBA Star and New York's Governor Show that Liberal COVID Discourse is Devoid of Science.

- Elon Musk - not a fan of the Biden Administration

- Thomas Sowell's 3 Questions. Compared to what? At what cost? And - what hard evidence do you have? These questions are not just for questions of politics but should be asked for many issues you may face in your life.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Just a reminder - Joe Biden is an anagram for "I need job." While he was a candidate that anagram applied to him but now, sadly, that anagram applies to many of his own supporters who believed him when he said he wouldn't implement vaccine mandates... If you did a Venn diagram of the people who thought Kamala Harris would be a good choice for Vice President and the people who thought a re-boot of Murphy Brown would be a hit show - I bet you'd get a lot of overlap... NBA: Black Lives Matter! (Unless they don't want to get vaccinated)... "Coming of Age" stories are a little too spot on if you just reverse the order of those three words... The RNC should make F*ck Joe Biden the slogan for every 2022 Congressional and Senate race. Someone's bound to make a lot of money off bumper stickers with that slogan... The Muses were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory). They were born of Memory so their arts cause the soul to remember a higher plane of being. The Ancients seemed to have a better grasp on what the arts do than we moderns... 

The West Wing Pilot Script


The original The West Wing pilot script written by Aaron Sorkin. Love reading old scripts like this.

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Linky Links

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

- The truth about the Great Barrier Reef. It's actually pretty healthy - no matter what the eco-scaremongering people say.

- NY Governor Hochul declares healthcare worker shortage of her own making. So it went from "two weeks to flatten the curve" (so hospitals and hospital workers wouldn't be overwhelmed) to now the firing of unvaccinated healthcare workers which is overwhelming the healthcare system. Makes zero sense (and we're allowing it to happen) 

- On a related note.

- Jonathan Isaac is now one of my favorite NBA players. How can you argue against what he said?

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

According to tradition, Plato carved above the door to his school the words, "Let no one enter here who is ignorant of geometry." I suggest we have the same words carved above the doors to Congress because anyone who believes that $3.5 TRILLION in new spending will pay for itself is clearly ignorant of basic math... Oh the surprising things you see on the Internet... Have to wonder if in this new world of legalized sports betting if a major college football team's record ATS (against the spread) will come into play when making invitations to bowl games. For example Rutgers is 4-0 ATS this season which means their fans may be sitting on some extra cash they'd like to spend on a trip to a warm place for a bowl game (gambling is now legal in NJ). Meanwhile Missouri is now 0-4 ATS which means some of their fans available travel funds may have already been spent... It would be curious to see a media friendly and well portrayed politician suddenly start talking about how we cannot let the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein's death to lapse or fall by the wayside - it would be curious to see how quickly the media "unexpectedly" turned against that politician... And speaking of Jeffrey Epstein - was wondering if by chance the FBI has ever gotten a sample of Hillary Clinton's DNA to see if it matched any unsolved murders? Just saying it might be worth it... 

National Coffee Day

Today is National Coffee Day. As you might expect from someone who named his blog after a common order for coffee in New England (growing up a large regular was a large coffee with cream and sugar) - I make every day National Coffee Day.

Numerous health benefits have been linked to either coffee or caffeine so I fully justify my three cups a morning habit. Follow the science!

Hope you get some extra enjoyment this morning after realizing you are helping to celebrate a made up holiday! 

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Joe Rogan - Freedom

 

100% agree!

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"The Almighty provided us with such a powerful sense of dignity that we cannot tolerate the denial of our inalienable rights and freedoms, no matter what real or supposed benefits are provided by 'stable' authoritarian regimes." - Roza Otunbaveva

"Finance is a gun. Politics is knowing when to pull the trigger." - Don Lucchesi Godfather III

"I'm not a number. Damn it I'm a man, I said I'm a man." - Bob Seger

"Alcohol is an excellent servant and a terrible master." - Christopher Hitchens

"Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory." - Dr. Seuss

"Normality is a paved road: It's comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it." - Vincent Van Gogh

"To think too much is a disease." - Fyodor Dostoevsky

Linky Links

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

- With vaccine mandates becoming more and more common - isn't it strange that Pfizer doesn't require vaccinations by their own employees?  Pfizer may succumb to political pressure to institute a mandate - just as Moderna reversed course. How is this following the science?

- 10 people who switched careers after 50-years old and thrived. (From the archives)

- What we really know about climate change. Excellent article. I have no anxiety over climate change whatsoever.

- Of course you can't trust scientists on politics. Reminded of the Richard Feynman quote, "Reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." Unfortunately public relations is where the science funding dollars reside these days. (HT Newmark's Door)

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Learned a new word - Gluckschmerz. It's the pain felt upon seeing another's good fortune. Basically the opposite of Schadenfreude. Oh you wacky Germans...  We need to stop saying "Socialism has failed every time it's been tried" and instead start saying "Socialism has caused tremendous human suffering every time it's been tried." Much more historically accurate... Growing up there was a basketball drill called "suicides" which was basically a sprinting change of direction conditioning drill. Given the insensitive name and today's politically correct culture - I have to wonder what the drill is called today?... This is insanity... The Democrats are trying to pass an additional $3.5 TRILLION in new spending but they say that's OK because it will be completely paid for by new taxes. Why isn't the Democrats want to raise taxes by $3.5 billion the top political story in the country? And don't give me the taxes will just be on the rich crap. A big part of the tax increase with be on additional tobacco taxes. Don't think there's many billionaires in this country who smoke but blue collar workers (especially those in the restaurant business) will really be hit by this tax increase... As an aside I'm very bullish on the Boston Celtics this season. The 76ers are dealing with the Ben Simmons hold out and trade demands while the Brooklyn Nets are dealing with the NYC vaccine mandate and the fact that Kyrie Irving may not be able to play any home games this season because he hasn't gotten his jabs...  

Fear is the Mind Killer - Dune


 

Monday, September 27, 2021

Linky Links

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

- Nick Saban and the Management of Meaning

Wait can this be true? Basically no difference between all-cause mortality taking a placebo or an mRNA jab? Shouldn't this be bigger news?

Agree 100%.

- Niall Ferguson: Evergrande's Fall Shows How Xi has Created a China Crisis

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Not a smoker but all these anti-vape pen commercials make me wonder if we should allow the tobacco companies, who are prohibited by law from airing TV commercials, to take the gloves off and air their own rebuttal commercials... Captain Kirk loves him some mountain... So at what point in your life do you go from saying that you're "having friends over" to saying you're "having company?' I'm thinking maybe after 5-years of marriage or maybe after a second kid... If this is a real product I'm willing to bet money it's made in China... Think I was part of the last generation for who getting the weekly TV guide in the Sunday paper or THE TV Guide was a vital part of planning your weekly TV viewing. May sound like an old foggy but growing up there was no "on demand" TV viewing or DVR's. There was also no "guide" button on the remote because neither one existed (on screen TV guide grids or remotes). The struggle was real... There are 17 major college football teams currently 4-0 on the season but only 15 of them are in the latest AP Top 25 poll. Neither undefeated Maryland nor Boston College are somehow deemed worthy of ranking. Makes me think David Burge' Marble Game is a much fairer method of ranking. Also starting to wonder if Georgia's opening week victory over Clemson should still be considered a "quality win"... 

New Monday Morning Tradition

Via
 

Sunday, September 26, 2021

Linky Links

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

- Matt Ridley on the roots of England's energy crisis.

- We See as We Be. According to this I'm probably an Anti-Establishment Rebel. (HT Tim Ferriss

- I agree with Austin Bay - General Milley should serve time in Leavenworth

- Modern Adult Life (Via)

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations. 

Unbeaten Notre Dame (4-0) should be ranked above 2-loss Clemson but so too should unbeaten (4-0) and currently unranked Boston College if the rankings are truly based upon performance on the field and not past reputation... USA! USA! USA!... Amused by the words "Chamber of..." because I can only think of two usages - Chamber of Commerce and Chamber of Secrets (from Harry Potter). Personally think there should be many more "Chamber of..."  I'd eat at a place called the Chamber of Pizza. How cool would a Chamber of Comic Books be? How about Chamber of Asian Delights? That could be the name for either a Chinese food restaurant or a massage parlor. Come to think of it I wonder why nobody has ever combined those two businesses... The Countries that are Going Nuclear on Climate Change.... Exajoules of Rock would be a good name for a high energy band... 

Quotes for Today

Some quotes that I hope may resonate with you.

"Nature uses only the longest threads to weave her pattern, so each small piece of fabric reveals the organization of the entire tapestry." - Richard Feynman

"The less you need the approval of others, the easier it is to do what's right over what's easy." - Shane Parrish

"I'm just going to say that I'm against mandating anything that causes massively swollen balls and associated impotence." - James Lindsay

"Gratitude comes from paying attention." - Shane Parrish

"Each mindful breath, each mindful step, reminds us that we are alive on this beautiful planet. We don't need anything else. It is wonderful enough just to be alive, to breathe in, and to take one step." - Thich Nhat Hanh

"We tend to forget that in 1985, no government of a major state appeared to be as firmly in power, its policies clearly set in their course, as that of the USSR." - Adam Ulam

"Excuse me sir, just one more thing..." - Lieutenant Columbo 

Farnam Street Knowledge


 

Saturday, September 25, 2021

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this and you will find strength." - Marcus Aurelius

"Worrying is like paying a debt you don't owe." - Mark Twain

"When it's all said and done, history will show that left wing environmentalism increased aggregate global emissions, not decreased." - Dan Crenshaw

"You are going to die one day, and none of this is going to matter. So enjoy yourself. Do something positive. Project some love. Make someone happy. Laugh a little bit. Appreciate the moment. And do your work." - Naval Ravikant

"A wise man accepts his pain, endures it, but does not add to it." - Marcus Aurelius

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion." - Albert Camus

"Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won't come in." - Isaac Asimov

Linky Links

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

- Phil Steele's Week 4 College Football Power Rankings

- VDH: Civilization Requires Deterrence

Yes that would be a moment for the history books

- Why the University of Florida gets about a $20 million cut of Gatorade revenue every year.

The More You Know


 Via

Friday, September 24, 2021

Gimme Shelter - Tom Jones and the New Model Army

 

Here's a cover version you don't hear every day.

Linky Links

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

- Steven Pressfield: Abrahams on the carpet.

If you have a Netgear home WiFi router you may be in danger of being hacked. (Or at least more danger than normally.)

- Would be funny if the reality of the situation was just as ridiculous

- Voting with their feet: Parents taking their kids out of traditional public schools

- Could China's House of Cards Finally Collapse? There's been warning signs for a long time for those paying attention.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Now that it's officially fall - let me be the first to remind you that's there's now just 13 shopping weeks until Christmas... Actually surprised we haven't read about any UN translators having a stroke or nervous breakdown after trying to translate this speech... "Whoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god." - Aristotle. Given the choice between the two - I'm going to go ahead and say I'm a god then. Though to be fair to Aristotle - he was born before the printing press and mass production of beer. Give me a good book and a cold beer and I'm delighted in solitude... It's like the evolution of my punctuation over the last 5-years in one image. I feel so seen... Let me take this opportunity to announce I'm formally taking myself out of the running as the next head football coach at USC... Out of curiosity do all those copies of Andrew Cuomo's book that were printed but will never be sold count against his carbon footprint? What about Michele Obama's book Becoming? Think of all those dead trees killed for no good reason... Bait Collectors would be a good name for a redneck band... 

Life Advice from Bruce Lee

Thursday, September 23, 2021

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing.

- Matt Taibbi: Russiagate, More Like Watergate. The big difference is that in Russiagate the role of G. Gordon Liddy was played by CNN and other media outlets.

- Not sure if this is the stuff of nightmares or potentially a cute Pixar character.

- Paper problems plague publishing: Scary shortfalls seen soon. (alot of alliteration)

- Silly but made me chuckle.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Tom Brady is exactly 500 yards away from breaking Drew Brees all-time passing yards record of 80,358 yards. That means there's a very good chance he'll break the record in his week 4 game against the Patriots in Foxboro. I expect him to get a standing ovation from the crowd when that happens... Did archaeology just solve the riddle of the destruction of Sodom in the Old Testament? Pretty good evidence that they did... Product idea - come out with a really hot, hot sauce. Call it Anus Napalm... Amused myself thinking about how changing the phrase "All sales are final" to "All sales are terminal" would work. Think it would be particularly amusing for a store that sold coffins... The surprising origin of high heels... Just learned that the sheriff in those Dr Pepper commercials is Brian Bosworth. Not sure if that makes me dislike those commercials even more or not... 

Question Everything?

 

Richard Feynman above shows the benefits of asking "why?" in science. 

The converse is the perverse "deconstruction" of post-modernism as practiced in most universities today. As illustrated by Norm Macdonald's "professor of logic" joke. 

Sadly today we seem to have too few Richard Feynman types and too many wannabe "professor of logic" types.

 

Life Advice


 

Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Linky Links

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

- Medical Schools Update Hippocratic Oath to Exclude Unvaccinated

- The little known heroic humanitarian deeds of heavyweight boxing champ Max Schmeling. (From the archives.)

- Morgan Housel: History's Seductive Beliefs

- NCAA's sky is falling NIL rhetoric looks all the more ridiculous now. "It's almost like the establishment made up the sky-will-fall panic." We seem to be getting a lot of such panic mongering from many different such "establishments." 

- Bari Weiss: Everybody Hates the Jews. That antisemitism is on the rise in the country is undeniable. That antisemitism is repugnant, and ignorant in all it's forms is also undeniable. 

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Books are the training weights of the mind." - Epicetus

"If you want to be a clear thinker you cannot pay attention to politics because it'll destroy your ability to think." - Naval Ravikant

"I distrust a man that says when. If he's got to be careful not to drink too much it's because he's not to be trusted when he does." - Dashiell Hammett

"Remember that to change your mind and to accept correction are free acts." - Marcus Aurelius

"The collective noun for a group of statisticians is a quarrel." - John Tukey

"I often carry things to read so that I will not have to look at people." - Charles Bukowski

"If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads." - Ralph Waldo Emerson



What are the Risks?

My understanding is that there have been 3,409 deaths from VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) which easily could be a low number because of cases never reported. Taking this number at face value though that's roughly a fatality rate of just 0.00002% of all the people who received a vaccine shot in the US (211,776,515). The VAERS numbers above are just deaths but if you added in all reported adverse side-effects that number becomes much bigger. These adverse effects include serious side effects such as triggering dormant MS (happened to my friend's wife) or myocarditis - among other side effects.

The mortality rate overall in the US from COVID compared to the overall population is roughly just 0.002% (COVID deaths in US divided by overall US population). It has been reported that 95% of these deaths were in people with on average 4 comorbidities.

The odds of winning the lottery is a reported 1 in 300 million. That's statistically a much lower number than the VAERS fatality rate mentioned above (which works out to 1 in 62,123). However, when it comes to winning the lottery the state governments will actively try to persuade you that today's your lucky day! Whereas with the VAERS fatalities they would seemingly try to convince you that the number is too small to be likely (or hide the number in ways that make it hard to determine).  

No matter how you slice it - we are talking about some very small numbers here. Numbers way too small to warrant lockdowns or forfeiting Constitutional rights. And with numbers this small - shouldn't each person be allowed to weigh their own risks and choices without being forced by government mandates? 

What happened to common sense?

Happy Hobbit Day


Today is the birthdays of both Bilbo and Frodo Baggins and is celebrated internationally as Hobbit Day.

Be sure to have a second breakfast and maybe a pint or two to celebrate!

Tuesday, September 21, 2021

The Elephant Man vs the Donkey Woman

John Merrick : There's something I've been meaning to ask you for some time now.
Dr. Frederick Treves : What's that?
John Merrick : Can you cure me?
Dr. Frederick Treves : No. We can care for you, but we can't cure you.

Kamala Harris: There's something I've been meaning to ask you for some time now.
Democrat Strategist: What's that?
Kamala Harris: Can you get me elected?
Democratic Strategist: No. We can care for you as Vice President, but we can't get you elected President.

John Merrick : I am not an animal. I am a human being. I am a man.

Kamala Harris: (Cackles uncontrollably

Linky Links

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

- The EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute for Virology applied for a grant applied for a grant from DARPA in 2018 for gain of function on bat viruses. The COVID-19 virus came from the Wuhan lab. This should be the biggest story in the world.

- Heh Heh

- VDH: The Afghanistization of America

- The Appalachian Trail in 4 minutes. Love these videos. Some day I'll make the through-hike.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

We could have 100% rock solid evidence that the virus was released from the Wuhan lab but if medical experts proved the Nicki Manaj's cousin's testicle story was real - the story of the swollen balls would get all the media attention... Greenpeace and Golden Rice. Greenpeace is an evil organization and if you donate money to them you are either ignorant of the facts or also a bad person. This is when I decided Greenpeace was just evil... With all the legalized gambling in this country you would think the word "Vigorish" would be making a big comeback but not so much...  For the past decade auto-tuned vocals have been big in pop songs. I'd like to see someone go old school and instead of auto-tune just sing the vocals into a fan (like we used to do as a kid)... Week 3 of college football is normally the point where sports bettors realize "I don't know what the hell I'm doing." This year that's really true... The Biden Administration has been especially hard on the folks at Bad Lip Reading because whatever they come up with for Joe Biden people will be unsure if it's a joke or maybe the President actually said that... 

Life


 

Monday, September 20, 2021

Linky Links

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

- Glenn Greenwald: The Indictment of Hillary Clinton's Lawyer is an Indictment of the Russiagate Wing of the US Media. Once can only hope that this is the first of many indictments.

- Milley's MutinyExecupundit makes an excellent point - why hasn't General Milley issued an immediate blanket denial of these charges?

- Got to love Elon Musk

- Heh Heh - very true

Questions Worth Asking


 Via American Digest

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Generally not a fan of movie remakes but doesn't the time seem right for remakes of both John Carpenter's Escape from New York and maybe more appropriately Escape from LA. But who would be the new Snake Plisken? How about Joe Rogan? He did escape LA and we could use the line, "Joe Rogan? I thought he was dead (from horse de-wormers)"... Have a feeling this bumper sticker may make a comeback... AOC keeps getting more ridiculous but the caricature won't be complete until she releases a manifesto... Did you know that Johnny Cash is the only person inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame, and the Songwriters Hall of Fame?... "Say to those that are of a fearful heart, 'Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.'" Bible verse or Trump 2024 campaign slogan? (Actually Isaiah 35:4)... Question has to be asked - will future historians dub the period known as the Biden Presidency as "the Quagmire?"...  

Life Advice


 

Sunday, September 19, 2021

Linky Links

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

- Gambling with Norn Macdonald.

- Poor reaction to the release of the iPad depressed Steve Jobs

- Noah Smith - US vs China: A battle of ideas, not militaries. Don't agree 100% with the analysis but I also don't pretend to be a geopolitical expert.

- Historic SpaceX Inspiration4 returns safely to earth. A new dawn in space travel is upon us. 

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"If the able and good withdraw themselves from Society [Government], the venal and ignorant will succeed." - John Tyler (1783)

"The life of wisdom must be a life of contemplation combined with action." - M. Scott Peck

"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest." - Adam Smith

"A mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work if it is not open." - Frank Zappa

"I come to work on time. I focus on my job. I bust my scenes out and everything else kind of happens from there." - Michael K. Williams (RIP)

"Every forecast takes a number from today and multiplies it by a story about tomorrow." - Morgan Housel

"Success is a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while failure is simply a few errors in judgement, repeated every day." - Jim Rohn

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations. 

The French recall their Ambassador to the US. Had to be over mean Tweets right? Those pesky mean Tweets. Thank God the adults are back in charge... Still get nostalgic and sad when I see the current Patriots weekly injury report and it doesn't list Tom Brady - which used to be one of the longest running traditions in Boston sports... Things I miss from my childhood - my mom made the world's best peanut butter Rice Krispies squares. I've never found their equal... Wonder if a single person has ever been convinced to sign up for YouTube TV so that they too could watch NBA games whenever they like same as the old Asian woman in the commercial. I chuckle every time I see that spot - one of the least effective commercials ever... I've decided that my new hobby is going to local music open mic nights and singing O Canada acapella. No real reason for this. Just my own private amusement watching the quizzical looks from the audience... Have to wonder how practical it would be to implement Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI - aka Star Wars) today? Back when Reagan proposed it critics scoffed that the technology was decades away. Well it's been decades... Speaking of technology decades away - The Jetsons was based in 2060 which is now just 40-years away. How close are we to flying cars, robot maids, and floating apartment buildings? All but the anti-gravity real estate seem within our grasp (though I don't see a full size vehicle collapsing into a brief case any time soon)... 

Too True


 

Saturday, September 18, 2021

Hand in Hand - Dire Straits

 

One of their forgotten gems. Such a great song.

Linky Links

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

- Heh Heh - Potential EU Leaving Names

- Sources: NBA players will not be required to get COVID-19 vaccinations. "NBA referees and most NBA staff are mandated to be vaccinated." Another example of one set of rules for the "elites" and a separate set of rules for the "servants."

- Modern Horror Story

- Cool - Winnie the Poo's house in now on Airbnb. What parent hasn't played Poosticks with their kids? (HT Daddypundit)

- Interesting article from a decade ago - Everything You Think You Know About the Collapse of the Soviet Union is Wrong. (HT Newmark's Door)

Farnam Street Knowledge

- Montaigne's Rule for Reading: The Promiscuous Pursuit of Pleasure

- 12 Things Lee Kuan Yew Taught Me About the World

- The Flow State You've Never Heard Of (Video)

Truth - Whether You Want to Believe It or Not


 

Friday, September 17, 2021

More Linky Links

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

- RIP Norm Macdonald

- Go for a walk

- VDH: 'Science,' They Said. Like I've said before - first came Fake News! and now we have Fake Science!

- It's Friday - I need a prescription! 

Linky Links

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

Grocery prices to rise by 3% by end of year according to Kroger executives. Think that's on the low side as I don't think the big rise in energy costs are truly being taken into account - especially the cost increases from trucking as gas/diesel prices go through the roof (up 24% year over year - so far!).

- Indiana University hospital system suspends 280 employees for refusing to get COVID vaccines. This seems like a huge lawsuit waiting to happen. A good number seem to be frontline workers who you would think would be the best versed in the realities of the pandemic.

- Heh Heh (Via)

- How much time do you have? Perspective.

- The first mention of America in history?

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." - H.L. Mencken

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life... Stay hungry. Stay foolish." - Steve Jobs

"The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." - Max Planck

"Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them." - Aristotle

"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson

"It is remarkable how much long term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent." - Charlie Munger

A True Thing of Beauty


Cassini's last image before entering Saturn's atmosphere and burning up four years ago this week.

Thursday, September 16, 2021

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

If Norm Macdonald died in Los Angeles - what are the odds after his 9-year battle with cancer his death is counted stat wise as "COVID related"?... Also - what are the odds that all of Joe Biden's passwords are "password"?... This never gets old for me (make sure you turn the volume on)... In September of 1901, Teddy Roosevelt delivered his "speak softly but carry a big stick" speech. Today's President has his own version but it's more "speak incoherently and abandon your stick to our enemies."...  The Atlantic has a review of the new Peter Thiel biography but I won't mention the name of the book or link to the review. I am fascinated by Peter Thiel but won't be getting this book because it simply seems a vehicle biased against Thiel's politics. Yes - he donated $1.3 million to Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and spoke at the RNC but that is a drop in the bucket compared to the money George Soros donates to left-wing candidates and Soros remains in the shadows like a spider spinning nefarious webs. It is not a crime (yet) in this country to be a libertarian or a Republican... 

The Roundless Way

Most people have heard the compliment of saying that a person is "well rounded". What does that actually mean? If you took away the "well" and just called someone "rounded" - that doesn't seem like much of a compliment at all does it? If you said "Steve is a rounded guy" I would assume you were either calling him fat or dull in a polite way.

To round some thing out usually means to either grind down the sharp edges or filling in the gaps between those edges. Neither "grinding down" nor "filler" seem like positives when it comes to personality traits. Wouldn't it be better to keep some sharp edges? Sharp is almost always a positive. He's a sharp thinker or he's a sharp dresser. Much better than being a rounded thinker or a rounded dresser - don't you agree?

Who would you rather handle your money - a sharp business man or a rounded business man?

I for one think it best to follow the path of the roundless way.

Linky Links

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

- Hydroponics reveal that Organic Food is about ideology, not sustainability. (HT Newmark's Door)

- Possibly my new religion

- And speaking of religion.

- Cornhole as a Olympic sport? I'd watch that. 

I Am a Reader


 

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Linky Links

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

- Theodore Kupfer on Comedy Legend Norm Macdonald. (HT Execupundit)

- Macdonald's death from cancer and now knowing he was sick when he said it - makes this quote all the more poignant 

- This is a sticky lawsuit facing the NFL and the Rams. Would love the drama of a jury trial but my gut says a huge settlement is paid to St. Louis instead.

- I think at this point every rational thinking person is in favor of nuclear power - with good reason

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Think for yourself, not of yourself. Think of others, not for others." - Naval Ravikant

"Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you're a good person is like expecting a bull not to attack you because you're a vegetarian." - Dennis Wholey

"You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are now and change the ending." - CS Lewis

"Science is a culture of doubt. Religion is a culture of faith." - Richard Feynman

"I have a saying: 'I was always smart enough to be naive enough to not know what I couldn't accomplish." - Kevin Plank

"The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read." - Mark Twain

Norm Macdonald

 "Battling cancer for 9 years without telling anyone is the most Norm Macdonald shit ever." - Anthony Jeselnik

"I'm pretty sure, I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure if you die, the cancer dies at the same time. That's not a loss. That's a draw." - Norm Macdonald

Norm Macdonald has passed away from cancer aged just 61 years. I was shocked by the news. As shocked as I was by the passing of Kobe Bryant. 

Norm was a hilarious human being. Whether it be on SNL as host of Weekend Update (the best by far in the history of the show); his many late night show appearances (including his touching final appearance on Letterman); his stand-up; or just Norm being Norm. The world is a much less-funny place today.

Here's an interview Norm gave a few years ago that gives you a flavor of the man. And yes, battling cancer for 9 years without telling anyone is the most Norm Macdonald shit ever.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

There should be a Go Fund Me page to get Triumph the Insult Comic Dog to attend and film an appearance at next year's Met Gala. There would be no lack in donors for the $35,000 cost of entry. And if a guy dressed as Captain Crunch can attend - why not Triumph? That would be awesome... Richard Feynman, while at CalTech, once wanted to create a diagram or a map showing how all different aspects of physics interacted. He was going to call it a "Guide to the Perplexed." That would also be a good name for either a blog or an online physics or science magazine... Has it really been 12-years since Pete Carroll was the coach at USC? Time flies. Also seems strange that he's now been the Seahawks coach longer than he was the Trojans coach. Kind of like Pudge Fisk actually playing more games for the White Sox than the Red Sox... Went on a neighborhood walk through a local college campus and a wildlife area and I must have seen twenty plus discarded masks. And nobody is picking those dirty face-diapers up... Seeing how it is now pretty much accepted that Andy Dalton is basically a below average starting QB - is it time to reassess Marvin Lewis as a head coach? People used to argue that it was Lewis holding Dalton back when it may have actually been the opposite...  From now on if anyone asks you to wear a mask tell them that you self-identify as a Met Gala party goer... 

Radiate Today


 

Tuesday, September 14, 2021

More Linky Links

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

- SpaceX will be launching their first space tourists and they seem like a nice group of people.

- Heh Heh 

- Heh Heh II

- Glenn Greenwald: The Masking of the Servant Class. The "elites" of this country are pretty shitty people. On a related note.

Linky Links

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

- This is not an anti-vax post but this certainly is strange. Mongolia had very few, if any, COVID deaths until they started vaccinating. My first question would be - which vaccine are they using? Please also note that the deaths are just a small percentage compared to the vaccinated.

- How equipment left in Afghanistan will expose US secrets. "The ultimate winner of two decades of war in Afghanistan is likely China." Joe Biden gave away the store.

- VDH - Wokeness: An Evil of Our Age

- Our most reliable pandemic number is losing meaning. "A new study suggests that almost half of those hospitalized with COVID-19 have mild or asymptomatic cases." 

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist." - Pablo Picasso

"We should enjoy good fortune while we have it, like the fruits of autumn." - Epictetus

"Failure is the only opportunity to begin again intelligently." - Henry Ford

"Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people." - Spencer Johnson

"The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance." - Alan W. Watts

"Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced." - Soren Kierkegaard

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

We all know someone who was really sick back in February of 2020. Based on what we now know about the actual origins of the virus - what are the chances those folks really did have COVID back then? Starting to think the odds are pretty good... Harry Potter's resume... Remember when Obama said Obamacare would save the average family $2500 a year in health costs? That was a blatant lie. That was six years ago and I feel Obama and the Democrats owe my family $15,000 plus interest. Pay up - or at least admit you were blatantly lying and apologize to the American people... Very cool - the surface of Pluto... Who knew? The word "fad" is actually an acronym for "For a day"...  American households continue to have to spend less every year on food.  Good news although I think that trend may be reversed partially this year due to supply chain and inflation factors...

I Want This Book


 

Monday, September 13, 2021

More Linky Links

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

- Operation Warp Speed: A Story Yet to Be Told. The best stories on the Manhattan Project didn't come out until years after the war.

- Fauci making sense (of course it was from 2-years ago and today he's probably against a good diet, exercise, and a good night's rest)

- Because in our society football coaches are held responsible for failures but Generals and Admirals are not. 

- And speaking of college football coaches being fired - USC fires Clay Helton (finally)

9/11

 

One of my favorite 9/11 tributes from the past 20-years. Never forget.

Linky Links

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

- Aaron Rodgers is giving off some Hunter Biden vibes after yesterday's loss. Maybe it's just me.

- Donating blood could slow aging along with other health benefits.

- Myocarditis is a very real risk from COVID (and from vaccines). Risk is highest in under 16 boys and people over 75.

- The Simpsons have always had an uncanny ability to predict the future.

- To Bill Belichick, Style Doesn't Matter 

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Why do I feel like the nightmare scenario of the US trading ALL the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay in exchange for the remaining Americans in Afghanistan is closer to reality than people think?... I'm going to start saying "snazzy" much more often. Maybe to an annoying degree. Just like the word. Tom Brady is snazzy... Think I know this one... Remember - Harambe died for our sins... Cynic in me wonders how Hunter Biden will profit off Joe Biden's new COVID guidelines. You know he has some angle working... Going to describe random things as being like a "quantum mechanical smearing of space time itself" just so people won't know what the hell I'm talking about or mean. "Oregon beating Ohio State is like a quantum mechanical smearing of space time itself!" See what I'm talking about... 

Truth


 

Sunday, September 12, 2021

Linky Links

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

- The Future of Work (according to crypto experts) 

- Day of reckoning for the media handmaidens of war. It says reckoning but in the end nobody will be held responsible (unless that person becomes a scapegoat for something else).

- Everything they have told you is a lie. More evidence for this appears every day. (HT Borepatch)

- The Unstoppable Momentum of Outdated Science

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

 "True good fortune is what you make for yourself. Good fortune: good character, good intentions, good actions." - Marcus Aurelius

"When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion." - Abraham Lincoln

"The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays." - Soren Kierkegard

"It's not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it." - Seneca

"Education isn't something you can finish." - Isaac Asimov

"No matter how smart a person is, no matter how elegant their hypothesis, if it does not agree with experimentation, it is wrong." - Richard Feynman

"Be scared. You can't help that. But don't be afraid." - William Faulkner

Go Pats!


 

Friday, September 10, 2021

Linky Links

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

- How the Pandemic is Changing the Norms of Science. We quickly went from Fake News! to Fake Science! and yet people still wonder why there's an erosion of trust.

Trust in media hits new low. Speaking of Fake News!

- This seems to be the logic

- Hey Joe - is there anything you could do to weaken Union support for Democrats across the board? Why yes - I have just the thing! 

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

So Barack Obama is wading into the California recall election on the side of Gavin Newsome. Will this yield the same results as when Obama waded into the Olympic selection process on the side of Chicago? Those Chicago Olympics certainly were memorable... Bob Ryan obviously not a fan of steroids guys... Dwight Eisenhower had to work after high school and he really wanted to go to Annapolis for college but by the time he was ready he was too old by a couple of months (he would have been 21 during his freshman year and they had a cut off of 20-years old). Good thing for us that West Point didn't have a similar cut off. Can you imagine how history could have been different if he went into the Navy instead?... Rocky Balboa's first name is actually Robert. Who knew?... Heh Heh... Still think Donald and Melania Trump should do a re-make of the show Green Acres. That would instantly become the highest rated show on TV. Huge, huge hit...  

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"It never ceases to amaze me: We all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own." - Marcus Aurelius

"The quality of your mind is the quality of your life." - Naval Ravikant

"Snake Plissken? I thought he was dead." - Escape from New York

"Energy and persistence conquer all things." - Benjamin Franklin

"To get better outcomes, learn to do the boring work no one wants to do when no one is watching." - Shane Parrish

"You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality." - Ayn Rand

"At that time (1909) the chief engineer was almost always the chief test pilot as well. That had the fortunate result of eliminating poor engineering early in aviation." - Igor Sikorski 

The Meaning of Life

Thursday, September 09, 2021

Tom Selleck's Mustache

More Linky Links

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

- Glenn Reynolds: US troops rage at their leaders will grow unless there's deep reform.

- China's Emergent Struggle for Food Security

- The stories that are too good to check. Fake News! 

- Matt Stoller on shortages, supply chains, monopolies and Wall Street. Interesting observations.

Linky Links

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

- Sam "Bam:" Cunningham passes aged 71. "Sam Cunningham did more to integrate Alabama in 60 minutes than Martin Luther King did in 20 years."

- Morgan Housel: A Number from Today and a Story About Tomorrow.

- James Clear: This Coach Improved Every Tiny Thing by 1 Percent and Here's What Happened. (HT Jason Pyle)

- New details emerge about Coronavirus research at Chinese lab. "This is a road map to the high-risk research that could have led to the current pandemic."

Farnam Street Knowledge

- The Four Tools of Discipline

- Bruce Lee on Self-Actualization

- Douglas Adams on our Reaction to Technology Over Time 

The Death of Expertise

 


Wednesday, September 08, 2021

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Is there any sports story less interesting than what the Washington Football Team is planning for their new team name? Seriously who cares. Although I do think it would be hilarious if they chose the Washington Caucasians... Did Justin Timberlake ever succeed in his quest to bring sexy back?  As an aside wouldn't a TV show called Bringing Sexy Back with Justin Timberlake be cool? Justin could interview sex symbols from the past or do profiles of sex symbols that have since passed. I'd watch that show... Homeschooling Goes Boom. We are witnessing a real-time revolution in education. If these parents vote as a block then any politician supporting public funds going directly to parents instead of school systems will be very successful in 2022 elections... On a related note - I feel that future generations may look back on the seeming requirement of anyone in education to be a liberal Democrat the way we look back on 18th century schools and universities requiring all staff be Christians to maintain their postings. That was the number one requirement much more important than competence. History does rhyme... 

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

 "You make your own luck. If you stay at it long enough." - Naval Ravikant

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." - Aristotle

"Remember this - that there is a proper dignity and proportion to be observed in the performance of every act of life." - Marcus Aurelius 

"All of us do not have equal talent, but all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop our talents." - John F. Kennedy

"Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do." - Bruce Lee

"The most dangerous employee you can have around is an articulate incompetent." - Roberto Goizueta

"The trouble with learning from experience is that you never graduate." - Doug Larson

Truth


 

Tuesday, September 07, 2021

Linky Links

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

- Heh Heh - Is it bad that my mind heard that last line in Forrest's voice? (Via)

- Governments wanting to vaccinate children increasingly looks like a disregard of science and a money grab for Pfizer 

- Who is Starlink really for? For anyone with access to fiber broadband - Starlink is not the solution. But for people with no access to high speed connections it will be a Godsend. Also not mentioned but a huge market - long haul truckers, RV's and yachts all of which could use Internet access in our modern age. (HT Stephen Landry)

- Theology's Invisible Hand. Adam Smith, religion, and economic theory.

- Matt Ridley: Dismantling the Environmental Theory for COVID's Origins 

Stay in Your Lane

Predict that the phrase "Stay in your lane" will be one of the biggest phrases of 2022. All the people from various fields who went out of their way to inject politics into their work the past few years - that's in part how we got the disaster that is Biden/Harris and the State of California.

Sportswriter who for years have been injecting politics into their MLB notes or college football reports - stay in your lane. Unless you want to own Jeffrey Epstein, Afghanistan and the inflation that has made attending a game our buying your newspaper an unneeded luxury.

Performing artists who regularly interrupt songs to lecture to the audience. Shut up and sing already.

Scientists from various fields that feel the need to weigh in on politics incessantly - stay in your lane! Especially if you are in something as fungible as String Theory. Yes I understand that in academia you feel the need to show your liberal bona fides for job security but after being so wrong for so long - now it's time to shut the F up.

Even in things like Stoicism there's a real need to stay in your lane. Feel the need to insert some Trump insults into an article on Epictetus - that just makes YOU look like a clown. Marcus Aurelius thinks you need to work on your self-control and become more open minded.

Of course instead of "staying in your lane" you can instead remain "stuck on stupid."  Your choice.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I've made this observation before but I'm dubious that the Chinese economy is as robust as some may believe. Economic growth requires innovation and innovation requires freedom. With the crackdowns on freedom (see Jack Ma or all of Hong Kong) will also come a drastic reduction in innovation (you can only steal so much intellectual technology property). There is also an aging population and not enough children. If I had a company doing business with China - I'd be getting my capital out of the country... Still blows my mind that this is a real photo... A person at age 20 should read the top 50 classic novels of all-time and repeat the exercise every 10 years for the rest of their life... Not sure if there's any truth to the rumor that Holy Cross is trying to schedule UConn as next year's homecoming opponent... Michael K. Williams, Omar from The Wire, found dead of an overdose at age 54. Way too young... 

"Don't be the Jabroni!"


 

Monday, September 06, 2021

Bonehemian Rhapsody - 28 Trombones

Linky Links

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

- Heh Heh

- Worth revisiting: Scott Adams - A message for children about climate change.

- Herman Hesse on the Magic of Reading 

- You can't fire me - I retire! Randy Edsel out at UConn at end of season. Losing to 1-AA Holy Cross will do that to you I guess.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Happy Labor Day! When I was a kid Labor Day was the official end of summer and time to go back to school. Now kids have been in school a week already and the significance of Labor Day has been diminished. How ironic that the significance of Labor Day was probably destroyed by a labor union - the Teacher's Union... Speaking of teachers - this time of year you always see stories about teachers who end up spending their own money to buy supplies for their students. How come you never see any stories about salespeople who have to travel for work but can't expense all the drinks they consume? Much of the costs for that alcohol comes straight out of their pockets yet you never see any Go Fund Me pages for people like me. Life is unfair... Two years ago this was the biggest controversy in the country.  Now look where we're at... Some enterprising person at a charity in Buffalo should host the Dildo Throwing World Championships with first prize being two tickets to a Buffalo Bills game. This could expand into a whole Dildo Olympics... I'm an awful person for laughing at this... As an aside - Red Sox fans truly dislike the Yankees but we always respected Mariano Rivera as a player and a person. There's no current Yankees even close to his level now - so the whole team remains unlikeable... 

The Power of Small Improvements


 

Sunday, September 05, 2021

No Man's Land

 

Bob Seger has so many hits that a song as good as this can slip through the cracks.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

 "A permanent solution to a temporary problem becomes a permanent problem." - Naval Ravikant

"Self education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is." - Isaac Asimov

"Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom." - Herman Hesse

"True love is when both people think they have the better half of the deal." - Simon Sinek

"Man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated." - Ernest Hemingway

"A life dragged slowly on amidst laments, becomes a kind of death." - Seneca

"The measure of a man is what he does with power." - Plato