Happy Valentine's Day to You and Your :Lovah

An Ayn Rand Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to You and Your Lov-ahhh

Happy Valentine's Day from Ayn Rand

Happy Valentine's Day to You and Your Love-ah

Happy Valentine's Day from Ayn Rand

Happy Valentine's Day from Ayn Rand

Teddy Roosevelt and Wokeism

I always think of Teddy Roosevelt on Valentine's Day because in 1884 he lost both his mother and wife on the day. The grief almost broke him. 

This year I wondered how Roosevelt would react to today's "woke culture." I don't think he'd like it.Teddy was not keen on those who worked to convert others to their religion. He didn't like it because he recognized that first the proselytizer would have to destroy the person's existing beliefs to get them to accept the new beliefs. That's exactly what's happening with woke culture and why there is an all-out attempt to destroy Donald Trump, the Republican Party and any conservative family values. . 

Teddy's own personal religious convictions boiled down to doing justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with God. An admirable creed but not compatible with the Borg-like hive mind of the Woke Left. 

Happy Valentine's From Ayn Rand

 

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Congrats to the Buccaneers. Let the debate between Michael Jordan, Lebron, Gretzky and Tom Brady begin... With Trump out of office cable news ratings are cratering. This makes my idea of having Strong Bad read the news a viable ratings bonanza... The Dodgers have signed reigning NL Cy Young winner Trevor Bauer. This make the team very hard to beat and also very hard to root for (except for Mookie Betts)...  Have to think that every single offensive player prop for the Chiefs came in under last night. Wonder if you bet the under on all player props if you'd make money every year...  February 14th really could easily be renamed National Shave Your Legs and Pubes Day sponsored by Lady Gillette instead of Valentine's Day... In 1,000 years if archaeologists find Ted Williams severed head - will they think that's what we worshiped?...  

Happy Valentine's Day from Chain-Smoking Santa

Happy Valentine's Day from Ayn Rand

This Week in Musk World

With Valentine's Day this past Tuesday maybe the big news on the Tesla front this week was the features and upgrades starting with the perfect time to use Tesla's Romance Mode.

- Sentry mode was made active.
- Dog Mode was released.
- And of course let's not forget about Fart Mode.

The Kia Niro EV could emerge as the leading competition to the Model 3 in the US. That is once the car is available in more than 12 states. Audi teases the Q4 e-tron as a potential competitor to the Model Y. The Q4 e-tron SUV is not scheduled to be available until late 2020 (is that why they called it the Q4?) or 2021. The Model Y gets a head start as it is supposed to be ready for shipment in 2020 and if it gets a perfect crash-test safety rating like it's big brother the Model X then the Model Y will be tough to top. Meanwhile Amazon invests $700 million in electric pickup truck startup Rivian. Setting up Bezos vs Musk once again (like SpaceX vs Blue Origin). GM is also rumored to be an investor in the Michigan based startup.

Threats of competition are nothing new for Tesla. But if Tesla can continue to top the lists of "most satisfying" cars this competition will continue to exist largely on paper. And as noted by Morgan Stanley - Tesla's Supercharger Network is a big competitive advantage. Even if Tesla opens up the Supercharger Network to other manufacturers just the subconscious sheepishness of an owner connecting to a Supercharger with a big "TESLA" on it will make them feel probably a little more than second class.

In non-hypothetical news - the first big shipment of Model 3's made landfall in China this week. Real cars, real revenue. The shipments would continue to be in place until the new Gigafactory in China is complete. But once again - real cars, real revenue.

In SpaceX news - it could cost less than $500,000 to move to Mars and maybe as little as $100,000 according to Elon. Musk stated that the return trip would be free for those wishing to leave. He also stated that the chances of him going to Mars is 70% (kinda skeptical of that). SpaceX is facing certification review by the Pentagon. It is stated that "it's not known what sparked the Pentagon investigation" but a cynic could say that the answer was supplied earlier in the article when it was noted that certification allowed SpaceX to "take on regular defense contractors Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp." Money talks.

An Elon Musk backed AI company created a text generator AI that's too good out of the box causing the company to slow down the project to look for potential harmful issues with the technology. Musk hasn't been active with the company in over a year and does not sit on the company's board. It should also be noted the Musk is also one of the most outspoken leaders on the existential damage AI could cause to mankind. All that said - I would like to read the rest of the 1984 story the AI text generator would have created.

Artificial Intelligence may be an existential threat but self-driving cars can be an actual threat as underlined by this recent crash. I'm not sold on auto-pilot for any vehicles yet. That doesn't make me a grumpy old man either. Just makes me a pragmatist.

Linky Links

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

- I really want this bobblehead

- The guy's a badass

- Heh heh - meanwhile in Peru. Maybe it's an emotional support llama?

- Absolutely a Green Deal I could get behind

- Heh heh

- Social Security does need some changes to make sure it is viable long term. But I think any plan that doesn't include gradually increasing the retirement age to reflect increases in human longevity is just ignoring reality.

- How can you not root for Isaiah Thomas?

Valentine's Day Linky Links

- Happy Valentine's Day from A-Rod

- Valentine's Day was not a happy anniversary for Teddy Roosevelt

- Chain-smoking Santa says...

- The US as a Valentine's Day card

- Not sure if picturing Prince Charles as your Valentine is more creepy or scary (or just plain hilarious)

- And a reminder that today's not just Valentine's Day - it is also the anniversary of Oregon joining the Union as the 33rd State back in 1859

Valentine by Ayn Rand

Heh Heh

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Maybe one of the reasons these "new" Democrats are so anti-Israel is that 42-years ago Israel basically switched from socialism to capitalism and that change has made all the difference... "I went to the doctor and told him 'my penis was burning'. He said "that just meant someone is talking about it." - Garry Shandling (one of my favorite quotes)... How to get rich (without getting lucky). You need to revisit this thread from Naval every once and a while... I still think the word "disseminate" should refer to when a man masturbates to climax... Rio de Janeiro means "River of January". I wonder if somewhere there's a Rio de Febrero?... I think the crisis in faith in the Catholic Church stems from the fact that such a big deal is made out of First Communion. Second Communion? Not so much. That's when things start to go off the rails... February 14th could easily be renamed National Shave Your Legs & Pubics Day sponsored by Lady Gillette instead of Valentine's Day and there would be more truth in advertising...

Valentine by Ayn Rand

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Congratulations to the Philadelphia Eagles and all their fans. Very deserved victory Sunday night. Yes I'm disappointed the Patriots didn't win but you cannot take away from the game the Eagles played. They were the better team... I want this door knocker... When people ask "how are you?" Or "how you doing?" I'm going to answer "I'm aggressively happy" and leave them wondering just what the hell that means... Who knew? Cycling causes more concussions than football... In modern dollars the ransoms paid to release England's King Richard the Lionhearted would have cost over $2 billion (34 tons of gold)...  Heh heh - funny because it's true!... February 14th could easily now be renamed National Shave Your Legs and Pubics Day sponsored by Lady Gillette instead of Valentine's Day and there would be more truth in advertising...

Valentine by Ayn Rand

Heh heh.