Sunday, July 31, 2022

Johnny Appleseed

 

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

Physics Joke

Sunday Flotsam and Jetsam

Have a new miscellaneous thoughts and observations post up on Substack

Insert pithy comment here. Please Subscribe, hit the Like button, and share with others.

McBain - the Movie

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Whiskey has killed more men than bullets, but most men would rather be full of whiskey than bullets." - Winston Churchill

"Any lesson from the past becomes relevant and is applied now. Any planning as well as working toward achieving a particular goal is done now." - Eckhart Tolle

"The greatest prophet on earth can give you no more than a watchword, and the vaguer the watchword the greater the prophet." - Nikos Kazantzakis

"Change your opinions, keep to your principles, change your leaves, keep intact your roots." - Victor Hugo

Saturday, July 30, 2022

Joe Biden - Prophet Without Honor

Via

Heh Heh

Via

Analysis - True!

"History is written by the winners... except on Wikipedia." - Elon Musk

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"The eternal present is the space within which your whole life unfolds, the one factor that remains constant. Life is now. There was never a time when your life was not now, nor will there ever be." - Eckhart Tolle

"First off, I am 35 years old, I am divorced, and I live in a van down by the river." - Matt Foley

"Your past is just a story. And once you realize this, it has no power over you." - Chuck Palahniuk

"Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor." - Alexis Carrel

Truth

They were also right about Hunter Biden's laptop. This time will we get 50 economists saying that the definition is Russian disinformation?

Friday, July 29, 2022

Are We The Baddies?

Words Redefined

Via

The 3 Major Problems With Incentivizing Talent

Mike Lombardi uses Kyler Murray's new contract to explain why bad incentives don't work. For me the incentives in Kyler Murray's $230 million contract make one think he's either lazy or stupid. Wonder who'd want a guy like that as a spokesman?

Anyway - Lombardi list his three issues and gives explanations. Good quick read.

Eco-Extremism has Brought Sri-Lanka to Its Knees

Matt Ridley on how extreme "green" faming polices have ruined a country and brought about near societal collapse in a previously affluent country.

Please be aware of how quickly things went to hell Go woke and go broke starve

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"There's only one rule that I know of babies - God damn it, you've got to be kind." - Kurt Vonnegut

"The more you are focused on time - past and future - the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is." - Eckhart Tolle

"It turned out that the first big lesson we learned was that there was much, much more business out there in small-town America than anybody, including me, had ever dreamed of." - Sam Walton

"A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon." - Napoleon

Heh Heh

I may be an awful person for laughing at this. HT Libidinous Lawyer

Thursday, July 28, 2022

Too Funny not to Share

HT Some It's Just as Well

News Engagement Plummets as Americans Tune Out

"Americans have grown exhausted from the constant barrage of bad headlines." The constant barrage of fake news doesn't help either.

Too bad dead people can vote for the Democrats but they can't count towards Nielsen ratings. Fox News cable ratings are actually up 12% during the time period looked at in the article.

Personally I couldn't tell you the last time I watched any cable news. 

Breaking Down a Tesla

Interesting look "under the hood" so to speak about the materials that actually go into making a Tesla

Some interesting nuggets in the post. For example, were you aware that the process of making a long-range EV actually produces 68%  more greenhouse gases that a similar gas powered car? It takes about 18 months for that EV car to overcome that handicap to become more "green" than a gas vehicle. 

Also I always assumed that Nevada was chosen as the site for the battery manufacturing Gigafactory because of much lower taxes than California but it was so the factory could be close to the lithium from clay found in the Nevada desert. The lower taxes were just a bonus!

Thursday Flotsam and Jetsam

Have a new miscellaneous thoughts and observations post up on Substack.

Good luck to Robert Kraft who has been nominated for the Football Hall of Fame 2023  class. If anything in the post made you smile or think please Subscribe, hit the Like button, or share with others.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Accept - then act. Whatever the present moment contains accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it. Make it your friend and ally, not your enemy. This will miraculously transform your whole like." - Eckhart Tolle

"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself." - George Bernard Shaw

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." - Mark Twain

"When we try to pick out anything by itself we find it hitched to everything else in the universe." - John Muir

I'd Vote for This Woman

HT Some It's Just as Well

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Talent is B.S.

Steven Pressfield with some excellent life advice

“Appreciate life. Never complain. Work hard and do your best.”

Peter Thiel on the Dangers of Progress

I'm a fan of Peter Thiel so I found this "interview" to be of interest. I put "interview" in scare quotes because the author inserts her opinions plus the article is a bit lengthy (not sure if the author was paid by the word but she sure seemed determined to mix in a lot of academic word salad as if to prove her own intelligence and bona fides). A simple transcript may have been more enjoyable.

That being said - I did learn some interesting nuggets. For example I was not aware that Blake Masters, the co-author of Zero to One (which I recommend), is running for the Senate in Arizona. If I lived in Arizona I'd vote for him just on the strength of the book. Also, I was aware of the Thiel Fellowship which gives young people $100,000 a year to drop out of college to work on big ideas but I did not know that Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, was a fellowship winner. 

Bruce Lee at the 1967 Long Beach Tournament

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"To have peace of mind, you have to have peace of body first." - Naval Ravikant

 "Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts." - Richard Feynman

"'Emergencies' have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have eroded. And once they are suspended it is not difficult for anyone who has assumed emergency powers to see to it that the emergency will persist." - Friedrich Hayek 

"The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness." - Abraham Maslow

Think It Best to Go with "No Comment" on This One

 

Your mind may or may not go to the place mine did when I saw this photo.

Tuesday, July 26, 2022

Goodnight Keith Moon

3 Reasons for the Fertilizer and Food Shortage

Bad weather, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and a shortage of fertilizer have led to fears of global food shortages.

The US is the largest exporter of food stuff in the world - makes you wonder if Bill Gates and Blackrock's buying up of so much farmland in the US isn't altogether altruistic. 

How the Battle Hymn of the Republic Influenced America

The history behind The Battle Hymn of the Republic.

I was taught the song in 3rd grade - in public school. I doubt very much that the song is being taught today. And we are a poorer nation for that change. 

Cool Stuff

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Civil rights used to be about treating everyone the same. But today some people are so used to special treatment that equal treatment is considered to be discrimination." - Thomas Sowell

"If you stop at general math, you're only going to make general math money." - Snoop Dogg

"Pleasure is always derived from something outside of you, whereas joy arises from within. The very thing that gives you pleasure today will give you pain tomorrow, or it will leave you, so its absence will give you pain." - Eckhart Tolle

"The groove is in the heart." - Dee-Lite

Love This Saying

HT Some It's Just as Well

Monday, July 25, 2022

Released 42-years Ago Today

How To Erode the World’s Greatest Military

VDH on the issues caused by the Biden Administration and by generals who feel the the Uniform Code of Conduct does not apply to them. VDH is 100% spot on.

The damage Joe Bien and ilk have done to the US military will be the hardest problem to fix by the next administration.

Self-Assembling Wires

 

Some cool physics. HT Massimo

Congrats to David Ortiz

Congratulations to Big Papi who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame over the weekend.

Here is an an interesting oral history on how David Ortiz almost didn't make it in Boston and maybe might have been out of baseball. Fellow Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez played a big role in seeing that didn't happen.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"If there's something you may want to do later, do it now. There is no 'later.'" - Naval Ravikant

"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man." - Heraclites

"Pain can only feed on pain. Pain cannot feed on joy. It finds it quite indigestible." - Eckhart Tolle

"Nothing matters! Nothing has any consequences! Dance while you still can!" - Loki

The Morons We've Become

HT The View from Lady Lake 

Sunday, July 24, 2022

Sunday Flotsam and Jetsam

Have a new miscellaneous thoughts and observations post up on Substack.

 One shining moment with some Flotsam and Jetsam. Please Subscribe, hit the Like button or share with others. Thanks in advance!

Buildings of the Future

 

Very cool. I'd absolutely want to own one of these buildings.

Timeline: The Domestication of Animals

Very cool. At first I couldn't figure out why dogs weren't on the graph then I noticed they were domesticated thousands of years before all the other animals. Amazing!

Quotes for Today

Some Quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"You are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold. That is how important you are!" - Eckhart Tolle

"History is written by the victors... except on Wikipedia." - Elon Musk

"There's no way to analyze the behavior of any individual to explain the group." - Safi Bahcall

"What can be added to the happiness of the man who is in health, who is out of debt, and has a clear conscience." - Adam Smith

The Power of Now

Imagine the Earth devoid of human life, inhabited only by plants and animals. Would it still have a past and future? Could we still speak of time in any meaningful way? The question "What time is it?" or "What's the date today?" - if anyone were there to ask it - would be quite meaningless. The oak tree or the eagle would be bemused by such a question. "What time?" they would ask. "Well, of course, it's now. The time is now. What else is there?" - Eckhart Tolle The Power of Now

Saturday, July 23, 2022

CDC Data - Lockdowns Had No Effect

Unless you count all the harm lockdowns did. (Graph via)

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"The hardest thing is not doing what you want - it's knowing what you want." - Naval Ravikant

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

"You are much stronger than you think you are, and you don't know the upper limit to that." - Jordan Peterson

"In the short term, you are as good as your intensity. In the long term, you are only as good as your consistency." - Shane Parrish

Find Something Beautiful Today

B-1B's flying over Devils Tower in Wyoming. (Photo via) Headline stolen borrowed from Execupundit.

Friday, July 22, 2022

The Four Quadrants of Conformism

Paul Graham with an excellent essay on conformism and liberty. Well worth your time with many great points. This one about censorship and who would do the censoring jumped out at me:

The first is that any process for deciding which ideas to ban is bound to make mistakes. All the more so because no one intelligent wants to undertake that kind of work, so it ends up being done by the stupid.

He also makes an observation about freedom of thought at universities that rings true. The post was from 2020 but since Paul Graham hasn't posted anything new on his blog since the pandemic its good to play the hits.

America’s Woke Army is Facing a Recruiting Nightmare

Glenn Reynolds on the Army's recruitment problem.

He's 100% right - the damage the Biden Administration is doing to the military may be the hardest problem for the next administration to fix.

Alexandr Hrustevich Playing Vivaldi

 

Simply amazing!

Ha Ha - No One Wants Kamala!

Hilarious!

Quotes for Today

 Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." - John F. Kennedy

"Habit is the intersection of knowledge (what to do), skill (how to do), and desire (want to do)." - Stephen Covey

"I choose to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and incur my own abhorrence." - Fredrick Douglas

"Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life." - Eckhart Tolle

Life and Love

Thursday, July 21, 2022

Mattel to Make SpaceX Line of Toys

Mattel has signed a multiyear agreement to make a SpaceX line of toys. Guessing Starman in a Roadster may be among the first toys produced.

I hope they include model rockets. I used to enjoy making model planes and rockets as a kid and I can see that hobby having a resurgence among both space enthusiastic kids and nostalgic adults.

A "Real" Look at the Russian Economy

Eye-opening thread looking at both the Russian economy and how we perhaps should be looking at the strength of a county's economy instead of using GDP

When it comes to production of real tangible goods - America's not in a very good spot right now. Agree that the data not being on a per capita basis makes the findings a bit misleading. But, by the same token, the data does show why Russia's economy seems impervious to the West's sanctions and why the Ruble has actually gotten stronger vs the dollar.

GM's $1 Billion EV Investment in Mexico

GM is investing $1 billion in a new Chevy Blazer EV plant in Mexico - not the United States. GM can do what they like but to me this is wrong. That investment should be made in the US for US jobs.

I agree with UAW Vice President Terry Dittes:

"At a a time when General Motors is asking for significant investment by the U.S. government in subsidizing electric vehicles, this is a slap in the face not only for UAW members and their families but also for U.S. taxpayers and the American workforce."

Tesla has shown that EV's can be made in the US. I hope the Tesla Cybertruck sales wipe the floor with the Chevy Blazer EV. And I'm sure it will.

Russ Roberts' 12 Rules for Life

Russ Roberts' list inspired by Jordan Peterson's book.

From the archives.  

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"I always spent money on books. I never viewed that as an expense. That's an investment to me." - Naval Ravikant

"Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are right now, and we will never be here again." - Homer, The Iliad

"As I know more about mankind, I expect less of them." - Samuel Johnson

"Say 'yes' to life - and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you." - Eckhart Tolle

Reminder the New York Times Has Never Been Trustworthy

"The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers." - Thomas Jefferson

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

What is "Real?"

Steven Pressfield with a deep question.

And a deep answer.

SpaceX vs DISH

Lost in the news about Elon Musk vs Twitter is another battle Musk is waging - SpaceX vs DISH Network.

SpaceX's argument got a big boost when DISH rival DirecTV came out to publicly back SpaceX's claims that DISH's 5G plans would harm existing satellite services

My money is on SpaceX on this one.

Wednesday Flotsam and Jetsam

Have a new miscellaneous thoughts and observations post up on Substack.

Have to wonder if the mushrooms were playing Pink Floyd or vice versa? Please subscribe, hit the Like button, and share with others. Thanks!

Quitting the News is the New Quitting Cigarettes

"To be completely cured of newspapers, spend a year reading the previous week's newspapers." Nicolas Nassim Taleb

Interesting post comparing the mental and physical health benefits gained by quitting consuming the news and how it's similar to those of quitting smoking.  

And I feel better. Way, way better. It feels like a war that used to be fought in my backyard is now being fought on Neptune instead. I feel relieved of my duty to keep track of the whole world, and now I realize I never had that duty in the first place. My brain got quieter and I started hearing myself think instead of hearing myself worry.

Read the whole thing - some interesting research. Makes me wonder what's worse for American society - all the sugar we consume in our diet - or all the news we consume?

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"In politics, never assume that because something is insane, it will not be done." - Thomas Sowell

"The duty of a leader is to serve the people, not for the people to serve them." - Elon Musk

"The lion is most handsome when looking for food." - Rumi

"Good writers are those who keep the language efficient. That is to say, keep it accurate, keep it clear." - Ezra Pound

July 20, 1969

Tuesday, July 19, 2022

5 Traits of an "Old Soul"

Love this. I will try to live an "old soul" life. HT Some It's Just as Well

Battery EV's vs Hydrogen Cell EV's

Interesting look at the difference between lithium battery electric vehicles and hydrogen cell electric vehicles.

As far as the environment is concerned it seems hydrogen cell cars would be the better answer but also the bigger shift from the way the world works today. There's only 48 hydrogen refueling stations in the US compared to 49,210 EV charging stations across the country.

Of the major car manufacturers - only Toyota is betting on Hydrogen cars so it doesn't take a genius to figure out who wins this battle.

How to Save the Pac-12

Have a Five-Step common sense plan to save the Pac-12 up on Substack.

Thought about calling the post Five Easy Pieces but not sure how many would have gotten the reference.

Guy Walks Into a Bar

Still my favorite long-form jokes.

From the archives. 

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"People who live far below their means enjoy a freedom that people busy upgrading their lifestyles can't fathom." - Naval Ravikant

"The road to hell is not paved with good intentions. It is paved with lack of intention." - Dr. Gabor Mate

"Someone with half your IQ is making 10x as you because they aren't smart enough to doubt themselves." - Ed Latimore

"Anger is a hot coal you hold in your hand while waiting to throw it at somebody." - Buddhist Saying

Put a Smile on Someone's Face Today

Monday, July 18, 2022

Truflation

Interesting app that traces inflation - both overall and by categories.

Overall inflation is at 10.08% as I type this. Housing, utilities, and transport are the biggest offenders (I imagine gas prices contribute largely to utility and transport increases). The good news is that alcohol is at half the overall inflation rate and communications has barely budged at all. 

Monday Flotsam and Jetsam

Have a new miscellaneous thoughts and observations post up on Substack.

Today I joke around and talk some sports but there's also a very serious note - on Saturday the National Suicide Hotline transitioned from a 10-digit number to simply 988. Please share that bit of info with whoever you feel should be aware of the change. The 10-digit telephone number will remain active but all calls will now be routed to the 988 answering locations.

As always please subscribe, hit the Like button and share with others. Thanks. 

US Intelligence Agencies Spying on Americans

"On December 11, 1976, during what would have been the final days of Richard Nixon's second term (Nixon resigned in August 1974), the Air Force launched the first digital satellite, the KH-11. At 3:15 p.m. on January 21, the day after Jimmy Carter's inauguration, the acting director of the CIA, Hank Knoche, met with Carter and his national security advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, in the Map Room of the White House. Knoche spread a handful of black-and-white photos across the table. They were the first live photos taken from space. They showed the president's inauguration ceremony." - Safi Bahcall Loonshots

I get that the inauguration was chosen for illustration purposes. It was an event Carter was intimately familiar with and so without much explanation showed the importance of the new spy satellite technology. I just find it amusing the the first use was to "spy" on a sitting president.

The more things change...

The Earth's Surface


Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body." - Joseph Addison

"An important daily chore is moving a sizable number of topics into a Zone of Indifference." - Michael Wade

"Everyone starts out innocent. Everyone is corrupted. Wisdom is the discarding of vices and the return to virtue, by way of knowledge." - Naval Ravikant

"To find a worthy mate, be worthy of a worthy mate." - Charlie Munger

Life Advice from Anthony Bourdain

Sunday, July 17, 2022

Truth

Via

Farnam Street Knowledge

Marshall Goldsmith: The Essentials of Leadership (Knowledge Project Episode #142).

Found this podcast to be both very informative and entertaining. Excellent life advice for anyone - not just managers.

Very Cool


Van Gogh's Starry Night combined with the first image from the James Webb Space Telescope. (Image via)

Anal Ice Cubes and the Difference Between Men and Women

I read a study once where the experts explained that putting ice cubes up the rectums of unconscious people has no physiological benefit and can even lead to seizures and stroke. Of course I laughed at such a silly study. And the more I thought about it – the funnier I thought it was.

After thinking about it for a while I came to the unmistakable conclusion that men were completely responsible for such a thing. In order for the study to be done in the first place people must have been putting ice cubes up the butts of unconscious people. Who would do such a thing? Men! A woman would never see an unconscious person and think – “Instead of calling an ambulance for help I think I will jam a large ice cube up the ass to see if that wakes the person up.” Say that to a guy and the chances are his response would be, “What the heck – give it a shot.”

And who would design and OK the spending for such a dumb study? Men! Do you think they told the test subjects what the study was all about? “OK we are going to knock you unconscious and then place ice cubes of different sizes up your rectum.” How would you like to be the test subject that ended up having a stroke because you needed the $50 the experiment paid? 

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Without the first amendment, there is no freedom. Without the second, there is no first." - Naval Ravikant

"Invest the best hours of your day on the biggest opportunity, not the biggest problem." - Shane Parrish

"More the knowledge lesser the ego, lesser the knowledge more the ego." - Albert Einstein

"Getting old doesn't make you fat and stiff. Getting fat and stiff makes you old." - Mark Sission

Truth

Saturday, July 16, 2022

Joe Jackson - Right and Wrong

Actual Inflation

Chart via
 

Churchill and Radar

"The British discovery of radar was due, in part, to public demands that their Air Ministry investigate the use of death-ray weapons. The most insistent requests came from a widely ignored former government official given to ranting about imagined future air attacks on London. His name was Winston Churchill." - Safi Bahcall Loonshots

Quotes for Today

Some quotes that I hope may resonate with you.

"Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions." - Zig Ziglar

"Has every other century been like this one? Has man always confronted, as he does today, a world in which nothing makes sense? ... In which nothing any longer seems forbidden or allowed, honest or shameful, true or false?" - Alexis de Tocqueville (1835)

"Yelling at strangers that you will never meet is a mental disorder." - Naval Ravikant

"There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance." - Hippocrates

Books Cool Stuff

Friday, July 15, 2022

Heh Heh

Via

NASA’s Private Sector Turn Shows Government Can Get More for Taxpayers’ Buck

Glenn Reynolds with an excellent argument (and history lesson).

There's a reason the saying "Good enough for government work" exists.

Mathematics, Physics, Pendulums, and Penguins

Very cool! Gavin Shapiro's Wingin' It.

Be sure to play the videos.

Corruption Reported by the Media

Via

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"The Frenchman may fight for France, but the American fights for mankind, for freedom; for the people, not the land." - Michael Shaara

"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools." - Douglas Adams

"The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks." - Mortimer Adler

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

Fear Is the Mind Killer

Thursday, July 14, 2022

Rolling in the Black

 

Adele and AC/DC mashup. Very cool!

ZipStitch - Pretty Cool

June Huh - 2022 Fields Medal Winner

Interesting profile of June Huh - the 2022 Fields Medal (the highest award in mathematics)  winner.

I'm reminded of genius physicist Paul Dirac who was distrustful of any equation if it wasn't "beautiful."

The Needle and the Damage Done

Why isn't this bigger news? Oh - nevermind. Think we all know why this isn't more widely reported. (Graph via

Nokia and the Smartphone


"In 2004, a handful of excited Nokia engineers created a new kind of phone: Internet ready, with a big color touchscreen display and a high-resolution camera. They proposed another crazy idea to go along with the phone: an online app store. The leadership team - the same widely admired, cover-story leadership team - shot down both projects. Three years later, the engineers saw their crazy ideas materialize on a stage in San Francisco. Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone. Five years later, Nokia was irrelevant."  - Safi Bahcall Loonshots  

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"The greatest superpower is the ability to change yourself." - Naval Ravikant

"Politics is a sadness generator." - Elon Musk

"People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures." - F.M. Alexander

"Our power comes not from suppressing others but from uplifting them." - Sakyong Mipham

Good Advice

Wednesday, July 13, 2022

Most Popular Websites Since 1993

Heh Heh

The Aristocrats! HT Some It's Just as Well

Wednesday Flotsam and Jetsam

Have a new miscellaneous thoughts post up on Substack

Granted today's post is a bit on the silly side but I'm going to blame travel and the summer heat for that. Please subscribe, hit the Like button, and spread the word by sharing with others. Much appreciated!

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat, but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires." - John Steinbeck

"What I've learned in my life is if someone is acting badly, they're in pain. It's a really simple rule, they're either scared or in pain." - Sebastian Junger

"Journalists aren't neutral - they're the cavalry in the culture wars." - Naval Ravikant

"All of man's troubles arise because he cannot sit in a room quietly by himself." - Blaise Pascal

Find Something Beautiful Today

A Great Horned Owl (photo via). Headline stolen borrowed from Execupundit.

Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Funny Because It's True (If a Lack of Common Decency Can Be Funny)

Condoleezza Rice

Condoleezza Rice joins Denver Broncos ownership group.

Good for her! I have long held that she'd be the perfect replacement as NFL Commissioner if they are ever able to get rid of human cockroach Roger Goodell. Officially becoming part of the Broncos helps her get her foot in the door and may be the first step in making that a reality.

A Little Zach Wilson Humor

This one involves Tom Brady

Statistically this is true

Heh heh - perhaps my favorite

If you don't get the jokes - you need to look it up. But the situation also explains why Wilson picked the BYU COUGARS as his college team.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities." - Voltaire

"Liberals claim not to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views." - William F. Buckley

"In any situation in life, you always have three choices.; you can change it, you can accept it, or you can leave it." - Naval Ravikant

"Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom on heaven." - Gospel of Matthew

Truth

Monday, July 11, 2022

Elon Musk and Twitter

Elon Musk actually re-Tweeted this meme

2022 Gauss Prize Recipient Elliott Lieb

Monday Flotsam and Jetsam

Have a new miscellaneous thoughts and observations post up on Substack.

As you head into the week remember the wise words of Frank Costello in The Departed, "Nobody gives it to you. You have to take it." Please Subscribe (if you haven't already), hit the Like button, or share with others. 

Truth

Via

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Habits are the compound interest of self improvement." - Srinivas Rao

"Some theologians have denied this [the Garden of Eden myth], and I agree with them: that the supposed unproblematic state is a state without creative thought. Its other name is death." - David Deutsch

 "Fly you fools!" - Gandalf

"Just set one day's work in front of the last day's work. That's the way it comes out. And the only way it does." - John Steinbeck

E.B. White


 Today would have been E.B. White's 123rd birthday.

Sunday, July 10, 2022

Elon Musk and the Twitter Deal

Interesting analysis of Elon Musk's attempt to back out of the Twitter deal. The author is clearly not a Musk fan and keeps insinuating Elon was doing this as a joke of some kind. 

To me the Occam's Razor solution to this question is that yes the number of spam and bot accounts on Twitter is much higher than the less than 5% number Twitter has reported in federal filings for years. Where there's smoke there's often fire and there's a lot of smoke on this issue. One independent analysis had more than 19% of accounts being spam/bots. Another independent analysis showed half of Joe Biden's 22 million Twitter followers were fake

If you do want to go full conspiracy theory on this - how about if some of Twitter's biggest investors were also some of the people who were short selling Tesla stock? A $1 billion break-up fee would be a small price to pay to get some revenge on those folks. Twitter stock sits at $36.81 a far cry from the $54.20 Elon offered for the company.

I'm going to stick with the number of spam/bot accounts being much higher than 5% and I'm guessing Musk's team can prove that in court.

Heh Heh

Honestly had never heard of the Georgia Fieldstones until they were destroyed. (Image via)

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"I don't think the human race will survive the next thousand years, unless we spread into space. There are too many accidents that can befall life on a single planet." - Stephen Hawking 

"'I don't have time' is just another way of saying 'It's not a priority." - Naval Ravikant

"We survive, and thrive, by solving each problem as it comes up. And, since the human ability to transform nature is limited only by the laws of physics, none of the endless stream of problems will ever constitute an impassible barrier." - David Deutsch

 "Discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want most." - Abraham Lincoln

Excellent Medical Advice

Via

Saturday, July 09, 2022