Linky Links

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

- Three reasons why DeepSeek's latest model matters.

- Germany overtakes US in ammunition production capability.

- This is a sound argument to some.

- About that Amazon deal to show Duke vs Michigan.

Linky Links

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

- What Americans can learn from hyperinflation in Weimar Germany. Those who don't learn from history are often doomed to repeat it.

- The dawn of play. Long but interesting read - what is the link between play and society? Is play necessary for creativity? What happens if play is repressed?

- Think the idea of media ride-alongs on DC patrols is genius. 

- Glenn Reynolds on the next target for our arrogant, ignorant, "experts:" organ donors. RFK Jr. is right - this is horrifying.

Linky Links

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

- Is the US Navy sleepwalking into defeat? Time to wake up.

- Deputy Director Dan Bongino with an update on the work being done at the FBI. Never forget he took a huge pay cut to do this work for the American people.

- Are we about to see huge pharma costs to the end-user get slashed? Will this also mean drastic reduction in healthcare costs?

- Germany halts surveillance of AfD amid US pressure. Sounds like they were caught in the act and called on their censorship.

Linky Links

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

- 23 books everyone should read once in their life. Love book lists. I've read all but 9 of the titles. (HT Wally)

- German defense chat on Cisco Webex overheard by Russians confirmed as legitimate. How can it be disinformation if it is true? (HT Borepatch)

- Criminal!

- Tucker Carlson Episode 79 on Hunter Biden

The US and Nazi Germany

The growing German economy in the thirties had been good to some of America's largest companies, especially the automakers. Ford had established its second largest plant outside of North American in Cologne. General Motors' wholly owned subsidiary, Opel AG, happened to be the largest automaker in Germany. Combined the US automakers constituted the majority of German automotive car production. This was especially critical as German automakers Daimler-Benz and Bavarian Motor Works (BMW) had shifted from passenger car production to the service of rearming Germany. - Bhu Srinivasan Americana

Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.

Really Scary Thought For Halloween Weekend

Via

Germany's Energy Policies

George Bernard Shaw was right when he said the Germans were a people with contempt for common sense. (Image via)

Even the Sceptics Should Admit - Trump was Right

President Trump made no bones that Germany should increase their defense spending to come up to their NATO commitment of 2% of GDP going for defense. He also made no bones that becoming dependent on Russian LNG (liquid natural gas) was crazy. Now after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine - the Germans by their actions are admitting Trump was right.

- In Dramatic Shift, Germany Begins Military Rearmament

- Germany Steps Up Plans to Reduce Dependence on Russian Energy

You would think both of these moves would be bad for Putin bringing into question - was his invasion into Ukraine worth it? The answer is clearly no. Russia was set up to be a cowed Germany's primary gas station but now not so much. Both of these moves also have other repercussions - good news for US and allied arms manufacturers (someone has to arm the Germans) and good news for domestic German energy producers (like the owners of the country's nuclear plants which now seem to be staying on-line for the foreseeable future). 

The big hope is that Putin doesn't start acting like an animal that's been backed into a corner now that his invasion actions are backfiring. 

(HT Instapundit for the links)

More Linky Links

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

- The NBA has a 3-point infestation problem.

- Cool - The greatest pool player in history just wanted to hustle.

- Germany seeks to tax income of US soldiers based there. The solution to this is easy - either move those soldiers to friendlier locations or bring them home. Then we can watch as the Germans complain about us moving away. 

- Enjoy! $100 million yacht owned by Capri Sun billionaire crashes into Caribbean Yacht Club. Reminder "schadenfreude" is a German word. On a related note. (HT Newmark's Door) 

Linky Links

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

- Artificial Intelligence defeats human Lockheed F-16 pilot in virtual dogfight.

- Victor Davis Hanson: A sort of good-bye to Germany? I agree 100% with the US troop withdrawal from Germany. 

- Is Daily Fantasy Sports gambling? The IRS now says "Yes"

- That's some hot coffee

- Like this Machiavelli quote.

Linky Links

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

- Lost a lot of respect for Mark Cuban. Can he even say that the country's current crisis originated in Wuhan China? Seriously Mark could  you even bring yourself to admit that much?

-  Commerce Department adds eleven Chinese entities implicated in human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Maybe Mark Cuban will offer these companies slots on Shark Tank to prove how much he tows the company NBA line?

- This is SO wrong (but it made me laugh)

- The family that owns the New York Times were slaveholders. That's it then - if you read the New York Times that means you're a racist (as I understand the new rules of the game).

- German leaders appeal to Congress to prevent US troop cuts in Germany. Cry me a river.

- Interesting look at how politics could be the Chinese Navy's Achilles heel.

- President Xi claims Uighurs were being loaded onto trains for a "Surprise trip to Disneyland". Or maybe an NBA game.

Linky Links

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

- NJ's small, networked dairy farmers are a model for a more resilient food system

- Week late but I got a kick out of this

- Speaking of Trump - the President plans to remove about 25% of the US troops in Germany. And the Germans aren't happy.

- This is from 2017 but recent Covid-19 "models" reinforce the point that "successful modeling with modern computers is 'mathematically impossible'"

- If Drew Brees was forced to apologize - what about RBG? Hmmmm...

- Honda seems to have been hit with a ransomeware attack (Hat tip Steve Landry)

Linky Links

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

- And so it begins - Germany sends China a $162 billion bill for cornavirus damage.

- And Israel is right behind. But they are suing China via US courts. The discovery process will be interesting and the damages could be in the trillions.

- Harsh but fair assessment

- How Bill Clinton opened the way for the mess we're in

- Interesting steps the Wynn will be implementing at their casino table games. Cleaning the chips will be the big challenge.

- China didn't warn public about likely pandemic for 6-key days. China is asshole!

- April 19th 1775, the day the American Revolution began. Happy Patriots Day!

Linky Links

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

- Excellent summary of How to Win Friends and Influence People

- The reason renewables can't power modern civilization is because they were never meant to. Renewable power polices in Germany have been an utter disaster. Will we be smart enough to learn from their failures?

- I did not know this

- Yesterday was the anniversary of one of the most courageous military charges in US history. Col. Joshua Chamberlain - where do find such men?

- Dunkin' dumps store owners for hiring illegals. Good for Dunkin'.

- How the Battle of Gettysburg turned the tide of the Civil War. (Ht Stephen Landry)

This Week in Musk World

The chart to the left is of Q1 vehicle production and deliveries year-over-year for Tesla. Quite impressive!  Over the long term such growth will be difficult to maintain but in the short-term as Tesla enters a market like Germany, for example, they quickly become one of the main players.

Or like in China.

Domestically some upgrades to Enhanced Autopilot and Full Self-Driving are now available. Upgrades Elon Musk has classified as "epic". The International upgrades will be available soon. As autopilot continues to be more studied I would expect fairly frequent fine-tuning updates to make the experience smoother and smoother. 

All the recent updates weren't safety or performance related though. TeslAtari was also in the latest release. Playing Asteroids while waiting in the parking lot while the girlfriend shops - cool!

Interesting profile on what gives Elon Musk his Silicon Valley "super powers".

In space news - Israel became just the seventh nation to put a spacecraft into the Moon's orbit. On Thursday they will attempt to be just the fourth nation to land a craft of the surface of the moon. All this was made possible because the Beresheet craft was launched on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. 

Meanwhile a federal judge wants Musk and the SEC to put their "reasonableness pants on" when it comes to resolving issues over some of Musk's Tweets. The judge is giving the parties two weeks to adhere to his admonishments.

I guess nothing says 2019 like a federal case over the accuracy of someone's Tweets.

This Week in Musk World

The Top 5 reasons to buy a Tesla. Not mentioned is how a Tesla can save an owner thousands of dollars in operation costs over a gas powered car. Total cost of ownership should be a big selling point.

Still some confusion in the market about Tesla closing some retail stores. Is it 10% of stores? 20%? All of them? None? While I agree that Tesla customers especially are willing to do the whole transaction online (especially in states that have dealership laws like Michigan, New York, Connecticut, Texas, Utah, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Wisconsin) - what about service and solar?

Service is the lifeblood of many car dealerships and Tesla needs more places where owners can get their cars fixed - not fewer. If Elon Musk is planning on closing some expensive, flashy retail stores and replacing them with more practical garages where the cars can be repaired then great. Service is a looming issue for Tesla that also has to be addressed. More places not fewer would be better.

And solar? Weren't the Tesla retail stores supposed to double as places to showcase the Tesla solar products as well? It's not like a Powerwall  can be just dropped off at a person's home like a Model 3. The Powerwall has to be installed and homeowners are going to have questions. Questions that could be answered at a retail store. Maybe the plan is to have an all-mobile fleet of service vans for both cars and solar? Like I said confusing.

Tesla recently released its enhanced summon feature. But all I could think is I'd go apeshit if I got stuck behind a car moving that slow in traffic. Also until advanced summon works seamlessly for someone to retrieve their car back home from a bar where you took an Uber ride home the night before then it's not a real selling point for me.

The "Tesla Effect" hits Germany as VW, Daimler, and BMW fully commit to EV's.

Construction going 24/7 in China to meet the goal of opening the Gigafactory 3 by the end of the year.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

If I had three wishes from a genie my first would to have the exact same hoax but instead of Jussie Smollett as the "victim" it would be Roger Goodell. (I have a strange sense of humor)... The German remake of Kids in the Hall looks woke as fuck!... Evidence of society getting lazier; in the 1950's it was called "pornographic movies", in the 70's shortened to "porno's", today just "porn". In 20-years it will be just "p"... Not all heroes wear capes... I get the sneaking suspicion that now that the Steelers have let Le'Veon Bell walk as a free agent, they will first trade Antonio Brown, and then just before training camp Ben Roethlisberger will decide he wants to retire. Somehow that's the way I think things will work out...  Finally some information from the Internet you can actually use - How much boobs weigh in animal terms... Raiders of the Lost Ark is now considered a classic? Man that makes me feel old... 

What's Next in Afghanistan?

Interesting look at what may happen if the President follows up on his stated objective of getting the US troops out of Afghanistan. While reading the article by Dr. Schroden my brain had several thoughts which I thought I'd jot down here.

First give President Trump some credit when it comes to negotiations. Yes he said he wants to pull the US troops out of Afghanistan but that was the equivalent of his opening offer. (Remember his opening offer to North Korea was nuclear war!) Afghan officials and other interested parties in the region (and the world) don't want to see that so they may come to the table with offers to help shoulder the load to avoid this. It occurs to me that Poland and other former Eastern Bloc counties could use some real-life combat experience to strengthen their position against Russia and what better place to get that experience than Afghanistan?

Also the article mentions the draw down of 7,000 troops in Afghanistan. Those 7,000 troops could be drawn down from other countries. We still have over 35,000 troops stationed in Germany. Trump could easily close a couple of the military bases we still maintain in Germany which would serve a dual purpose. First it would get those troops home and secondly it would be another negotiating chip to use in his trade war. The communities located near those closed bases in Germany would suffer economically and the message would be clear - do you want me to close more bases or do you want to lower your tariffs on US goods? 

The US still has over 54,000 troops stationed in Japan. President Trump has a good relationship with Japan PM Shinzo Abe and a win-win situation could easily be created by converting the US bases on Okinowa into bases under joint control of US and Japanese forces. The US could reduce the number of troops we have stationed there to make room for the Japanese troops and this development would be a boost to PM Abe's political standing while getting even more US troops home. President Trump could even have Japan buy some more F-35's and a new missile defense system to sweeten the pot.

A stronger Japan militarily also acts as a buffer to China as the two are historic rivals.

Linky Links

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

- Detailed look at all of Danny Ainge's NBA Draft picks

- Sad but this pretty much sums up the immigration debate

- Interesting - Stonehenge builders may have used Pythagoras' theorem 2,000 years before the Greek philosopher was even born. Bonus in the article the possible origin of the phrase "length of time."

- WTF? Seriously WTF?

- Germany's largest auto makers back abolition of EU-US car import tariffs. Interesting to see if this is a wedge issue dividing Germany and France in the EU.

- I've said it before but how ironic is it that Hillary Clinton's Presidential hopes may have been dashed by a sexual predator who was not her husband.

- I laughed too hard at this (hat tip Borepatch)

Linky Links

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

- What the hell Germany?

- Did Hillary campaign illegally launder $84 million in campaign funds? Crime or smart 21st century politics?

- This is awful (and I'm awful for laughing at it)

- "All work and no play" Anthony Hopkins vs "All play and no work" Anthony Hopkins

- 7 traits of super productive people

- On a related note - three simple ways to get better at getting better

- Rest in peace Roy Hawthorne