Wednesday, January 27, 2021
Tuesday, January 26, 2021
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Bari Weiss interview with Natan Sharansky: Why Alexi Navalny is playing with his life. I wonder who will be China's Alexi Navalny? (HT Execupundit)
- Whiskey on the American frontier
- Teen suicides major reason for schools to reopen. I've been saying this for months.
- Israeli's say they will attack Iran if US eases sanctions. My money would be on Israel.
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
Can we all agree that Tom Brady is clearly the greatest football player in history? Brady should no longer be compared to football players but instead only to the best of all-time in other sports like Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky... Excellent advice... I don't write Harry Potter fan fiction but if I did it would be a story about Harry taking Mr. Weasley to an amusement park for an afternoon... GameStop short-sellers lost $1.6 billion in a single day as Reddit traders rebelled against them. Cool story. Fight the power!... I'd be in favor of a Constitutional Amendment that make's that year's Super Bowl MVP the tie-breaking vote in the Senate in case of any 50-50 votes. What could be more American than that?... Interesting interview of John Madden on how the video game Madden has evolved and its impact on football...
Quotes for Today
Some quotes that I hope may resonate with you.
"Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, and then for a few close friends, and then for money." - Moliere
"Love me when I least deserve it, because that's when I really need it." - Spanish proverb
"Subordinating your ego is the ultimate form of self-confidence." - Jocko Willink
"Nothing says, 'This was a perfectly normal election, and now it's time to come together as a united nation,' like having your swearing-in behind 12-foot-high razor wire surrounded by 25,000 troops whose loyalty you doubt." - Glenn Reynolds
"I feel a great comfort and relief knowing that there were others who lived and died and thought and fought so long ago; I feel less tyrannized by the present day." - Iggy Pop
"Authority has always attracted the lowest elements in the human race. All through history mankind has been bullied by scum." - P.J. O'Rourke
"The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously." - Hubert Humphrey
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Why people are leaving California in droves.
- Turning desalinization waste into useful resources.
- 3 exercises you should do every day
- Ray Dalio on some of Lincoln's and Washington's principles
Monday, January 25, 2021
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thought and observation.
For many people a distrust in the media can be traced back to 2001 and Bernie Goldberg's book Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News. Back then there was a debate whether this was actually true. Now nobody debates that it's anything other than fact. We owe a debt of gratitude to Bernie Goldberg... I knew it!... The NHL's TV contract with NBC expires at the end of this season. It will be very interesting to see how negotiations for a new TV contract go and how that will effect player contracts going forward... Haven't read the whole article (I'm not a subscriber) but I think the title says it all - Joe Biden's First Day Began the End of Girl's Sports. There's literally nothing to prevent a biological male from self-identify as a female but just during basketball season (for example) if they wish. Politically this is a self-own for the Biden Administration... You rarely see snakes in the dead of winter. They all wait for a sunny day to make their presence known...
Sunday, January 24, 2021
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Morgan Housel: Personal Finance Philosophies
- Matt Taibbi: The Echo Chamber Era. "...audiences were asked for a time to care about certain thing as if their lives depended on it, then just as quickly asked to forget the issues ever came up. And they wonder why people feel manipulated." Don't trust China the media. China the media is asshole!
- NBC is shutting down NBC Sports Network. The NHL and other sports will be heading to the USA Network.
- A week into his administration and already Joe Biden has Canada ready to "go to war" against the US. The peace-loving, gentle, liberal Canadians.
Josh McDaniels
In order to keep McDaniels and persuade him to decline the Colts offer to be their head coach a couple of seasons ago - the Patriots had to give McDaniels a significant bump in pay. In line with what an NFL head coach makes. It would not surprise me in the least if McDaniels' salary as the Offensive Coordinator in New England is more than what Nick Sirianni is getting as the head coach of the Eagles. It may be even more than what the other assistants hired by other teams like the Jets, Lions, Chargers and Falcons are paying their new head coaches.
It has long been reported that Robert Kraft has an agreement to keep Bill Belichick the highest paid coach in the NFL. Would it be a stretch to assume that McDaniels has a similar agreement to be the top paid assistant coach? That's both a blessing and a curse for McDaniels. He's highly compensated with less pressure than would come with the job of head coach but his price tag may limit his opportunities to take a job at the next level.
Quotes for Today
Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.
"Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal." - Albert Camus
"The more the Internet exposes people to new points of view, the angrier people get that different views exist." - Benedict Evans
"The fans are standing up to them! The security guards are standing up to them! The peanut vendors are standing up to them! And by golly, if I could get down there, I'd be standing up to them!" - Hyannisport broadcaster in Slap Shot
"Mental health and health are the same things." - Andrew Yang
"What ever crushes individuality is despotism, no matter what name it is called." - John Stuart Mill
"The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness.You have to catch it yourself." - Benjamin Franklin
"It is capitalism that pulled billions out of poverty. Not vapid virtue signalling." - Nassim Taleb
Warren Zevon - Keep Me In Your Heart
Today would have been Warren Zevon's 74th birthday. Keep him in your heart for a while.
Saturday, January 23, 2021
A Modest Proposal
President Biden signed an Executive Order Wednesday which was supposed to be a protection for the transgendered (as an aside my spell-check doesn't even recognize this as a valid word - someone should cancel Microsoft for this transgression). However, the EO explicitly gives legal protection to biological males who wish to compete in women's sports. As they say, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." And Joe Biden just signed a hell of a paving stone.
Everyone with eyes to see knows that whether it be basketball, track, swimming, tennis, weightlifting, etc. that a biological male has a huge advantage over a biological female. The only sport I can think of where the gap is closing is perhaps marathon running (and maybe dodgeball).
I think we can all agree that there is no place as "woke" as a college campus. We can also agree that COVID-19 has decimated university finances. Now we add this last straw to the camel's back and I can foresee some desperate (or enterprising) university Athletic Director making this perhaps logical drastic next step.
If gender is just a social construct as some argue, if biological males can now compete with females, and females can play on male sports teams - why have separate men's and women's athletics at all? Why have male athletes and female athletes when you can just have athletes? Why have the expense of separate teams at a time when school budgets are in crisis? The Athletic Director can simply say, "All are welcome to compete. We don't discriminate. But we do have a limited number of roster spots - so..."
With a stroke of a pen (just like the signing of an Executive Order) - the Athletic Director can basically slash the sports budget in half while also eliminating most non-revenue sports. Don't get me wrong - I'm not advocating for this and it would be a vastly unpopular move eliminating not just women's sports but also the associated scholarships or financial aid to the women athletes. But because of the COVID-19 related budget crunch there may be one or more Athletic Directors out there who may be backed into a corner and feel this would be the only move possible. Even worse there may be some Athletic Director who thinks this is the right thing to do (either because excessive misogyny or excessive "wokeness"). And if one Athletic Director does it - others may feel free to follow.
Thanks to President Biden - this may be the future of college sports.
EDIT: Changed the photo because of broken link. Also wanted to mention that I don't think this issue will be an epidemic but it will be significant enough. That is if it is reported in the "news."
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- 3 unions that endorsed Biden seem like they're already regretting it. Perhaps these unions should vote for new leadership - that is if they think their union voting is more reliable than what we saw in November.
- This was perhaps my favorite Bernie meme
- 12 Fucking Rules for Success
- Iran reacts to the Biden Inauguration (volume up)
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
Rest in peace Hank Aaron.If you have a few moments today spend some time looking at his career stats. Incredible! Still the all-time leader in RBI and total bases (and in my mind he's still the HR king)... So did half of the country wake up Thursday morning and wonder, "Wait am I a dog-faced pony soldier?"... Lady Gaga is among the 46 people President Biden is following on Twitter. But not Taylor Swift or Beyonce - are their rabid fans aware of this giant slight?... "Page 3 of 2" would be a great name for a blog... My greatest hope... "Are you now or have you ever been a dog-faced pony soldier?"... A Christopher Hitchens quote that is very relevant to the latest Impeachment, "That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence"... Sportswriters please take note - due to Covid-19 concerns I will NOT be participating in this year's NBA Dunk Contest. I repeat - I will NOT be participating. Thank you for your understanding...
Friday, January 22, 2021
Batman and Economics
Bruce Wayne: "Oh, you must be jesting, Dick. Economics dull? The glamour, the romance of commerce... Hmm... It's the very lifeblood of our country's society."
Quotes for Today
Some quotes that I hope may resonate with you.
"At the end of the game [of chess], the king and the pawn go back in the same box."- Italian Proverb
"Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives." - Ronald Reagan
"Republic... it means people can live free, talk free, go or come, buy or sell, be drunk or sober, however they choose." - John Wayne
"This [preparing my tax return] is too difficult for a mathematician. It takes a philosopher." - Albert Einstein
"All free men remember that in the final choice a soldier's pack is not so heavy a burden as a prisoner's chains." - Dwight D. Eisenhower
"Hatred paralyzes life, love releases it." - Martin Luther King Jr.
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Wow - big news: Japan looks for way out of Tokyo Olympics because of Covid
- Morgan Housel: We Have No Idea What Happens Next
- Canadian PM Trudeau "disappointed" in Biden plan to revoke Keystone XL permit. One day in office and already upsetting the Canadians and costing union jobs in the US.
- Good on Bills Mafia. And good on Blessings in a Backpack which seems a worthy charity.
- Canadian winners and losers in the Keystone XL decision
- Interesting Trivia question. Got 4 out of 5 but no way I was getting the 5th.
Thursday, January 21, 2021
Batman and Hippies
Robin: "They'll mob me!"
Batman: "Groovy."
More Linky Links
More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Antifa attacks Portland Democratic Party HQ. Peace in the Middle East may be as simple as giving the Palestinians the City of Portland. Not much different than what's going on now.
- Morgan Housel: A few thoughts on writing.
- A $15 Federal minimum wage is a BAD idea (The They Might Be Giants song on the other hand is awesome)
Quotes for Today
Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.
"Professional athletes are not paid to play, they're paid to WIN." - Bill Russell
"I can't believe that there's a patron saint for beekeepers and bell-makers but if you're a rodeo clown you're on your own." - Father Kelly
"Insects don't have politics." - Jeff Goldblum in The Fly
"Wisdom is foreseeing the consequences." - Shane Parrish
"Where you stand depends on where you sit." - Rufus Miles
"Sin that pays its way can travel freely, and without passport; whereas Virtue, if a pauper, is stopped at all frontiers." - Herman Melville
"One of the greatest delusions in the world is the hope that the evils in this world are to be cured by legislation." - Thomas Brackett Reed
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Introducing Wokeyleaks. Good stuff! I hope this becomes a regular thing.
- The world needs a real investigation into the origins of Covid-19. Agree 100%. But I also know that a real investigation will never happen because China will not allow it.
- Morgan Housel - Two Worlds: So much prosperity. So much skepticism. Interesting post with many great insights. This one really caught my attention: "Adjusted for inflation, the two stimulus packages passed in the last nine months are roughly equal to what we spent fighting World War II over four years." Wow!
- Interesting things are happening in Russia. Went with "interesting" because "scary" seemed too much.
- Heh Heh
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
It would be interesting to learn how many people during the pandemic became autotonsorialists. That's one who cuts their own hair... "There are two kinds of people in his up-tight world: his victims and his women. And sometimes you can't tell them apart." That's the tagline from the 1967 Lee Marvin movie Point Blank. Can you imagine that tagline being used for a movie today? Well perhaps for a bio-pic of Bill Cosby... Newt Gingrich's Open Marriage would be a good name for a swinger's assisted living facility... Tim Feriss' letter to a friend who wants to get in shape... If Buffalo were to reach the Super Bowl - I wonder which team their fans would prefer to face. Either Green Bay or Tampa Bay would be a difficult opponent but psychically beating Tom Brady would be like an exorcism of the past 20-years (Brady is 32-3 career vs Buffalo) but to once again lose to Tom Brady would be perhaps literally maddening for the entire City of Buffalo. Without saying it I'd guess many Bills fans are silently rooting for Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay...
Wednesday, January 20, 2021
Batman and Grammar
Robin: "You can't get away from Batman that easy!"
Batman: "Easily."
Robin: "Easily."
Batman: "Good grammar is essential, Robin."
Robin: "Thank you."
Batman: "You're welcome."
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Living the Dream: The Urgency of Now
- A bit of lost history - the day MLK was stabbed in Harlem.
- President Trump continued the tradition of leaving a message to his successor in the Oval Office. Curious as to what that message was.
Quotes forToday
Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.
"Life is not always a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well." - Jack London
"Thought precedes action as lightning precedes thunder."- Heinrich Heine
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them." -John Wayne in The Shootist
"Wise men speak because they have something to say. Fools because they have to say something." - Plato
"Nothing separates us [more] from human beings from earlier eras than how much less disease affects us. If we moderns lived for one year with the sort of death rates our pre-industrial age ancestors perpetually lived with, we'd be in societal shock." - Dan Carlin
"Crazy plants the seeds of calm, because wild times incentivize people to solve problems and stay alert, like a healthy dose of paranoia." - Morgan Housel
"Show me a man who thinks he's objective and I'll show you a man who's deceiving himself." - Henry Luce
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
There has been no confirmation to the rumor that Joe Biden's Secret Service code name is "Disaster Pants." I repeat - no confirmation!... The definition of a badass... I think if you did a Venn diagram of the people who support the Palestinians over Israel at every turn with the people who supported Antifa's takeover of Portland, Oregon - it would be a circle within a circle... After reading the book Operation Paperclip I kept thinking that the death of Frank Olson from LSD would make an interesting movie. Just learned that there's a documentary on Netflix called Wormwood about Frank Olson. I'll have to check that out... It should also be noted that Joe Biden's name does not translate into Japanese as "Buddhist hell." Not sure how that misunderstanding got started... Celtics coach Brad Stevens kind of looks like a young Chuck Yeager. Am I the only one who sees this?... If you're a New England Patriots fan who is not rooting for Tom Brady - I don't understand you. Not understanding outside of understanding that your parents must not have raised you the right way...
Batman and Eyesight
Robin: "If we close our eyes, we can't see anything."
Batman: "A sound observation, Robin."
Tuesday, January 19, 2021
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- TDS claims another victory. Guessing Cheney won't be re-elected in 2022. She'll be labeled as being part of "the Swamp" and that label will stick.
- Heh Heh - "Skynet is a private company. They can do what they want."
- Why the Left has to Suppress Free Speech
- Poetry Break - Kipling's IF read by Michael Caine (one of my favorite poems)
Quotes for Today
Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.
"Then you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day." - 1 Samuel 8:18
"An economist is a fellow who knows 101 ways to make love but doesn't have a girl."- Dr. William C. Freund
"...one of the falsest of the proverbs is that you must lie on the bed that you have made. The experience of life shows that people are constantly doing things which must lead to disaster,and yet by some chance manage to evade the result of their folly." - W. Somerset Maugham
"How can anyone read history and still trust politicians?" - Thomas Sowell
"You always have the option of having no opinion." - Marcus Aurelius
"Put politicians and journalists on unemployment and the lockdowns would be over within a week." - Naval Ravikant
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
I don't ask for much but if someone could yell "FREEBIRD!" loud enough for all the microphones to pick it up during Joe Biden's Inaugural speech that would be great. Thanks in advance... A record that will never be broken (but may be added to)... Would love to see someone change the ending of the movie Chinatown from the quote, "Forget it Jake. It's Chinatown." To "Forget it Jake. The electoral college votes have already been counted." Or "Forget it Jake. They're a private business." This could be the new Hitler in the Bunker... Twitter stock has lost about 19% of its value in the last month going from $55 a share to $45 a share. I would expect it's descent to continue. I would also expect Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft or Apple to be standing by with a replacement app with all the same features just in case Twitter completely craters... The great Drew Brees may have played his last NFL game and I can't help but think of one of the great "What if's" in all of sports history. What if prior to the 2006 season the Miami Dolphins team doctors gave free agent Drew Brees a clean bill of health and he signed with the Dolphins coached by Nick Saban at the time instead of signing with the Saints. How different would NFL and college football have been if that happened?...
Monday, January 18, 2021
More Linky Links
More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Matt Taibbi - How much did The Culture of Narcissism get right? Starting to see many discussions of this book.
- Minimum Internet speeds needed to stream video online. The advent of 4K (and 8K) will make many broadband services inadequate.
- I admit that I've been wondering about what path Senator Joe Manchin might take for a couple weeks now. He's currently the most important politician in the country.
- Heh Heh
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Agree 100% - President Trump should formally recognize Taiwan before he leaves office.
- Slashing big tech's Gordian Knot. Also agree 100% that we must eliminate Section 230 as it pertains to big tech. (HT American Digest)
- How women play the kazoo (you'll never hear the song America the Beautiful quite the same again).
- A Game Designer's Analysis of QAnon. Interesting but long read. I would not be surprised that QAnon is an elaborate prank that got out of hand.
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
How great would it be if you took all the great "Hail Mary" passes in football history (Stabauch, Flutie, etc.) and set them to the music of Ave Maria?... In January of 1835 the U.S. national debt was reduced to $0 for the first and only time in history (file this under things that will never happen again)... Interesting look at what went wrong with Carson Wentz and the Philadelphia Eagles. Was amused by this line in the article, "When you believe you've found the Great White of team sports - an elite quarterback - you hold on for dear life and you feed the beast." Even the moderately literate get that "Great White" is a Moby Dick reference but I chuckle knowing many out there will wrongly read it as some sort of MAGA dog-whistle or even sillier as some kind of reference to the movie JAWS... Has anyone asked Joe Biden if he plans to move the US Embassy out of Jerusalem? I know Biden has only been asked softballs but I'd be really curious to hear his response to this question... Need a ruling on this - the way Amazon, Apple, and Google trampled Parler would that have been considered a violation of Net Neutrality if Net Neutrality was the law of the land? If not - what's the good of Net Neutrality?...
Sunday, January 17, 2021
Batman and Chopin
Dick Grayson: "What's so important about Chopin?"
Bruce Wayne: "All music is important, Dick. It's the universal language. One of our best hopes for the eventual realization of the brotherhood of man."
Quotes for Today
Some quotes that I hope may resonate with you.
"Intentions don't matter. Actions do. That's why being ethical is hard." - Naval Ravikant
"If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present." - Lao Tzu
"There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law." - Abraham Lincoln
"Hope is not a strategy. Luck is not a factor. Fear is not an option." -James Cameron
"If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law." - Winston Churchill
"In war there is no substitute for victory." - Douglas MacArthur
"Distrust all men in whom the impulse to punish is powerful." - Friedrich Nietzche
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
Over the years I've become less and less interested in the MLB Hot Stove off-season. Not sure if it's me getting older or the MLB product getting shittier... 15-years ago the New York Times actually had the headline,"Can Angelina Jolie Really Save the World?" And it was in the effing Business section (in case you were wondering if the NYT has always been trash)... Speaking of the MLB Hot Stove - lots of rumors of the Red Sox looking to trade Andrew Benintendi who Baseball-Reference.com listed Hall of Famer Dave Winfield as the most similar player when Benny was age 22 but now lists below average career hitter Darin Erstad as his most similar age 25 comp... Fact that may only interest me - the letter "M" comes from a pre-Canaanite hieroglyph pronounced "mem" meaning water and shaped like waves... Albert Pujols turned 41 on Saturday. He has one year left on his contract and will be paid $30 million for the 2021 season. After that he has a 10-year personal services contract that will pay him $10 million a year. America - what a country!... This is mean...
Saturday, January 16, 2021
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
-VDH: Assault on the Capitol Has Let Loose the Electric Octopus
- Warning:Facebook and Twitter are "Dangerous" Even if You Never Used Them. "There's no court of law for trying bots and algorithms." There should be! Also WhatsApp is no longer safe to use (thanks to Facebook)
- State Department Fact Sheet: Activity at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Guilty fuckers! Don't trust China - China is asshole!
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
Team Purple would be a good name for a new third-party political organization. Not Team Red and not Team Blue but a centrist party with the best of both. Team Purple would also be a good name for a political blog that objectively looks at both the Democrats and Republicans... Patriots defensive coach Jarod Mayo had an interview with Philadelphia as a candidate for their open head coaching position. Mayo is held in very high regard in New England and I could easily see him as potentially the next head coach of Tennessee where he's an alumni (haven't seen this prediction anywhere)... Don't the people in the GEICO pipes commercial own a gun? Problem solved...When Einstein graduated from our equivalent of high school - he finished second in his class. The name of the person who was valedictorian is lost to history. I can't help but think of someone back then saying, "Sure Albert Einstein was pretty smart but you should have seen this other guy"... No actor has ever looked worse running than Liam Neeson. Seriously -he runs like he's trying to hold in a crap...
Friday, January 15, 2021
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Spending time outside - especially during winter - is a key to good health.
- Bari Weiss - The Great Unraveling. (HT Execupundit)
- Interesting read - Mystic Chords of Memory: Learning from the American Story
- Heh Heh
- The Big Lessons from History by Morgan Housel. Some excellent wisdom in this piece. Highly recommended.
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
Two thoughts come together. In the old days a person's last name was often also their occupation - so someone named Smith was most likely a blacksmith. Also in the old days the term "roger" meant to have sex with usually in a rough manner. Which now begs the question - what exactly were Aaron Rodgers fore-bearers known for?... Speaking of Aaron Rodgers - here's an interesting thought - why not Aaron Rodgers as permanent host of Jeopardy!... Who could have foreseen that "Fight the Power!" would become a Republican rallying cry?... PC Magazine reports download speeds of 79.5 Mbps for Starlink service which is very good but comes with two big caveats, as far as I'm concerned. First that's on a mostly unused shared network. Once the network is loaded with subscribers the download speeds most likely will be greatly reduced in speed tests. Second the advertised upload speeds is just 20-25 Mbps which is much slower than a comparable symmetrical fiber connection... Funny, sad and maddening all at the same time.... Sexual Anorexia would be a great name for a band. Dry Spell could be their opening act...
Quotes for Today
Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.
"The measure of wisdom is how calm you are when facing any given situation." - Naval Ravikant
"A man always has two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason."- J.P.Morgan
"Amateurs think disagreements are threats. Professionals see them as an opportunity to learn." - Shane Parrish
"I figured Daredevil must be Catholic because only a Catholic could be both an attorney and a vigilante."- Frank Miller
"Excuse me. I believe you have my stapler."- Milton Waddams
"The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion." - Paul Coelho
Thursday, January 14, 2021
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Interesting - Sci-Hub is now on the "uncensorable web." (HT Stephen Landry who now has a blog)
- This was an epic troll of Twitter by Gab
- What Big Tech did to Parler should bother you. It should bother you very much.
- This has all the makings of a modern-day Frankenstein-like horror story.
- Be curious how James Harden reacts when he gets his first tax bill.The trade to Brooklyn will cost him about $14 million in additional taxes.
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
Thinking of forming a social media company where people can communicate with messages of up to 240 characters. It will be a politically neutral platform where only the true bad actors like Holocaust deniers, the KKK and organizations connected to the State Department list of terrorist organizations are banned. It would be managed with a very light touch. I'd call this new service "Twiller" and each message would be a "Twill"... Funny how you never hear Eric Mangini's name floated in connection with any NFL head coaching jobs. He's only 49-years old but he screwed the pooch so bad with the Jets his name is now toxic... One of those stories that sound too good to be true but actually is. In his 20's Elon Musk went to Russia to look at buying some retired ICBM's as space transports but was spat upon by the Russian Chief Rocket Designer. Elon didn't get mad- he got even by building SpaceX... First they came for the Parler app -how long before they come for the Chick Filet app? (Only kind of joking.)...
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
Douglas Adams had an asteroid named after him - Asteroid 2001 DA42. The name combines the year of his death, his initials, and the answer to the Ultimate Question of life, the universe, and everything... Facebook market cap tumbled by $34 billion after Trump ban. I could see them continue to tumble from three main factors: A - subscribers are their product and many are logging off Facebook for good because of their heavy-handed censorship; B - foreign governments (Germany and Mexico to start) have called out the banning of Trump as unacceptable and the move will only make Facebook doing business in foreign countries more difficult which will harm the bottom line; and C - people understand that social media in general and Facebook in specific is actually detrimental to mental health. Many of those people won't be coming back to the platform... Hats off to Notre Dame - the only team to hold the Alabama juggernaut under 35-points on the season... Maybe President Trump got banned from Twitter because he Tweeted "Learn to code." Ever think of that?...
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- What's it like to be a college Athletic Director (during a pandemic)
- The restaurant industry lost 372,000 jobs in December. "More than 110,000 restaurants, or 17% of the industry, have closed permanently or long-term." This is madness!
- Good on Tim Berners-Lee - I really hope this succeeds. EDIT: Here's a more recent article on Tim Berners-Lee's efforts.
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Bill Belichick and the Medal of Freedom
I hate that politics has permeated every aspect of American life - including sports, However, I completely understand why Belichick acted the way he did.
There's nothing the Patriots dislike more than either giving opponents bulletin board material or turnovers especially unforced errors. To accept the Medal of Freedom in this charged political atmosphere would have been detrimental to the team. Like it or not many free agents would have considered a Belichick /Trump relationship a reason not to sign with New England this coming off-season. And other teams would have played up that angle too in their attempts to win over those same free agents. Accepting the Medal at this time would have been an unforced error.
Belichick was put into a bit of a "damned if you do - damned if you don't" situation but has seemingly made the best of it.
The motto in New England is "Do your job!" And this week part of Bill Belichick's job was to decline the Medal of Freedom.
Voltaire's Warning
Absurdities like the Fine People Hoax, the Drinking Bleach Hoax, the Russian Hoax, Antifa is just an idea, and that there were no irregularities with the 2020 election? Absurdities like those and others?
Holding my breath waiting for the atrocities they would be willing to have others commit. And by others I mean mobs.
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
Looking back I think the phrase that best overall sums up 2020 was "Stuck on stupid." I know that phrase first came to prominence 15-years ago but somehow I fear we as a nation never got "un-stuck"... Matt Taibbi - We Need a New Media System. There is a real vacuum for people who just want "news" not propaganda, slants, or "hot-takes"... Feel like big tech companies like Twitter and Facebook are making the ultimate "Go Woke - Go Broke" experiment. Even the Germans are saying "dude what are you doing?" Will be interesting to see how tech stocks do in the next few months.... New England Patriots fans of a certain age thought of Hart Lee Dykes as a punchline - a first round pick who only lasted 2-seasons due to breaking a kneecap and injuring his eye in a bar fight. But Dykes' two seasons look like Jerry Rice in his prime in comparison to N'Keal Harry's production in Foxboro... Johannes Factorum (jack of all trades) would be a good name for a blog... And speaking of the guys in Foxboro - the way things are going is it too much of a stretch that some people will protest against the team name? In a couple of years of Biden's America will they be forced to be known as the New England Football Team? Only kinda kidding...
Quotes for Today
Some quotes that I hope may resonate with you.
"The best revenge is not to be like your enemy." - Marcus Aurelius
"How painfully funny is that Apple 1984 ad now?" - Joel Engel
"But life is very short and anxious for those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear the future." - Seneca
"The most effective way to do it - is to do it." - Amelia Earhart
"The political left's attempts to silence ideas they cannot, or will not, debate are a confession of intellectual bankruptcy." - Thomas Sowell
"The less scheduled you are, the more creative you're going to be." - Naval Ravikant
Monday, January 11, 2021
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
"Is Baker Mayfield an elite QB?" is the "Is Joe Flacco an elite QB?" of this generation... 12 Epic Facts about David Lynch's Dune. Love the book Dune and I had no issues with David Lynch's film. Some interesting tidbits at the link... Speaking of questionable "elite QB's" - What's next for Ben Rothlisberger? My guess, being the diva I've long thought he is, Big Ben will hem and haw about retirement all off-season, may even show up to training camp out of shape and then call it quits. Guessing all fans of other AFC teams hope Roethisberger comes back for another season... The question also has to be asked - is Ben Roethlisberger a Hall of Famer? My first instinct was to say "Yes" but drilling down on Big Ben's numbers makes you wonder if he's just Matt Ryan with a better defense and supporting cast? Would you consider Matt Ryan a Hall of Famer?...
Other Side of Town - John Prine
Thought a little John Prine would be a good way to start the work week.
Sunday, January 10, 2021
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
Cities would never give their fire departments quotas of how many fires they need to put out - that would just give incentive to firemen to set fires of their own in order to meet the quota. Yet those same cities have no compunction to giving the police quotas. It makes no sense... The Only Real Way to Acquire Wisdom... I've said it before but given recent circumstances - if DuckDuckGo came out with a politically neutral video platform (I suggested the name DuckDuckShow) with the same privacy settings as their browser to complete against YouTube I think it would be an immediate hit... Flashback - Democratic "dirty-tricks" trial as 4 take plea deal. This has been a cancer on the body politic for years...Inaugural protocol reminder - at the after inaugural reception whoever catches the President's flower bouquet becomes the Ambassador to Sweden...
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Interesting - Space Force's reported role in foiling Iranian missile attack.
- Abraham Lincoln on living with loss.
- Do the real thing. Excellent advice.
EDIT: Adding this link as well. Forward it to the people you think may be interested in this info.
Quotes for Today
Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.
"The real secret to success is enthusiasm." - Recent Fortune Cookie
"Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous." - Albert Einstein
"He is a self-made man and worships his creator." - John Bright
"If women knew what men were really thinking - they would never stop slapping us." - Larry Miller
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man," - George Bernard Shaw
"Silencing the people, not to mention the President of the US, is what happens in China not our country." - Nikki Haley
"As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding, like the Roman, I seem to see 'the River Tiber foaming with much blood.'" - Enoch Powell
Saturday, January 09, 2021
The Best and the Brightest
"There had been something of a gentleman's agreement among those who might be called The Good Journalists of Washington that the Kennedy Administration was one of excellence, that it was for good things, and against bad things, and that when it did lesser things it was only in self-defense." - David Halberstam The Best and the Brightest
"One of the things which surprised me was how thin most of the newspaper and magazine reporting of the period was, the degree to which journalists accepted the norms of the government and, particularly in the glamorous Kennedy era, the reputation of these new stars at face value. Credit was given more readily for educational prowess and for academic achievement than for accomplishment in government." - David Halberstam The Best and the Brightest
The above are taken from David Halberstam's introduction to the 1992 re-publishing of the book. The two paragraphs also easily could have been describing how the media covered the Obama Administration 48-years later. There's also no doubt in my mind if the media had their way it would also be the blueprint for how the Biden Administration would be covered. There's two glaring issues with that though - there's nobody that's going to describe the Biden Administration as "glamorous." Also the number of people who will buy what the media is peddling is much, much less than it was in 1960 or 2008.
The role of the media is not to inform the public. It never was.
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
I think the best explanation for what happened at the Capital on Wednesday may be an outbreak of Mad Human Disease... Heh Heh... King William was known s William the Conqueror to his admirers and as William the Bastard to his detractors. Politics was always thus... Remember - not even once!... I would like to put together a Justin Beiber cover band fronted by an Elvis impersonator. I would call the band Generic Ebola... Valid question... I don't think I've ever eaten at a McDonald's and thought, "I'm lovin' it!" It's always been more along the lines of, "I'm going to regret this!"...
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Elon Musk passes Jeff Bezos as world's richest person
- Jeopardy! tribute to Alex Trebek. Miss you Alex!
- First Principles: Elon Musk and the Power of Thinking for Yourself
Friday, January 08, 2021
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
I like to think that those who follow me on Twitter or read my blog would never storm the Capital. We'd storm the Library of Congress (and sit quietly and peacefully reading for hours then leave at closing time after putting our books away)... Dura lex, sed lex. Agree 100%... Happily surprised to learn that Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) is still alive. Was sure he passed away a couple of years ago and couldn't understand why he was trending on Twitter... China blocks WHO from investigating origins of Covid-19. Because they know it came from the Wuhan lab and they also know they can get away with actions like this... As the playoffs begin this weekend a reminder that Tom Brady has 30 playoff victories. That's more then two thirds of NFL franchises have had in their entire existence. When Brady is done his record number of playoff wins is a record that will never be broken... On a related note - the way my brain works I can't help but wonder if the people investigating potential election fraud are the same people the NFL hired to "investigate" Deflategate...
Thursday, January 07, 2021
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- The Secret Economic Lives of Animals.
- VDH: Defenders of Civilization? Our nation's troubles run deep.
- Facebook's ultimatum for WhatsApp users. It's like Facebook is daring anyone to break them up. (HT Cultural Offering)
- Gravity, Gizmos, and a Grand Theory of Interstellar Travel. (Interesting but long read.)
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
I heard about what was happening in the Capital at 3:00 yesterday and for the rest of the day tried to avoid the news with the attitude "Not my clowns - not my circus"... Remember a few years ago when there was a movement to edit smoking out of classic movies? In a couple of years, if we're not careful, there might be a movement to edit masks onto contemporary movies and TV shows... Having said the above it was impossible to avoid pictures of Buffalo Guy - Dances with Morons. I hope everyone who stormed the Capital is identified and is charged with a minimum of 10-years in prison each... Don't look now but Nuggets Nikola Jokic is averaging a triple-double - 24 points and almost 12 rebounds and assists a game. Impressive... Tales of the lazy... It's been decades but now it bugs me to no end that in SIXTH GRADE my class was made to read Democratic socialist Michael Harrington's The Other America. Talking about trying to indoctrinate young impressionable minds. Sixth freaking grade! We should have been reading Encyclopedia Brown stories... Have a feeling the real truth about the last six months (including what happened yesterday) will take years to come to light...
Quotes for Today
Some quotes that I hope may resonate with you.
"A man who dares to waste an hour of time has not discovered the value of his life." - Charles Darwin
"DON'T PANIC!" - Douglas Adams
"Writing is like playing the piano or learning tennis; if you do it every day, you're going to get better and better. It's not about writing when you feel like writing." - Anne Lamont
"If you can't write for pleasure, you can't write for money." - Shane Parrish
"Education isn't something you can finish." - Isaac Asimov
"The worst way to build relationship is to try to build relationships." - Naval Ravikant
"It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things." - Leonardo da Vinci
Wednesday, January 06, 2021
The Clash - London Calling
Seemed like a good day to post this. Washington is burning but I live by the river.
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Interesting - The friendship that made Google huge. Doubles as a look at the creativity of collaboration.
- Bittersweet - Alex Trebek's final Jeopardy! episodes to air this week
- Because Some Have Forgotten...
- The Treasury's Crypto Reporting Proposal May Be a Fourth Amendment Breach
- 4 Laws of Muscle. I've posted this before but its worth repeating. It could actually be narrowed down to two laws - eat protein and exercise!
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
I have to admit I've been having these "Good German" thoughts recently as well. The Voltaire quote that keeps me up at night recently is, "Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities." Very true - as unfortunately we are re-learning... Isn't it about time for society to change the word to "womenstrate?" Or would that offend the "men can have periods too" crowd?... How is this not a regular winter festival... Beats at the Heart of Chaos would be a good name for a band or a retro Beatnik coffee bar... Heh Heh... Perspective - if you had a minute of silence for each person killed in the Holocaust you would have to be silent for eleven and a half years... Once you hear his music - you never go back... Haven't played fantasy football or baseball in over a year but if I do again then Schtup with People will probably be my team name... The death toll from the "cure" may be worse than the disease. Not mentioned in the article - the word "suicides."...
Tuesday, January 05, 2021
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
Why a second opinion is always valuable: if you know a lot of nurses and doctors and see the mistakes they make in their personal lives - you may rightly question their judgement. Why assume the same folks are perfect all the time in their medical diagnosis?... Wait - Cirque du Soleil is owned by the Chinese now? Not 100% ownership but enough to cross them off my list of things I'd pay to see... Heh Heh... If the Chinese do start seizing Western assets and companies as some have predicted - I wonder what would happen if they tried to seize the Tesla Gigafactory? Would Elon Musk have the ability to disable all the Tesla cars in China remotely from Texas? How great would that be?... Colleges have "shed" 10% of their employees (about 550,000) since the start of the pandemic. "Shed" seems an interesting choice of words. Normally a word associated with "unwanted" or "unnecessary" as in I "shed" 10 pounds on this new diet. Would be interesting to know the makeup of those who lost their jobs. How many were custodial or facilities, administration or professors?...
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Matt Taibbi looks back at 2020
- The Bill is Coming Due for China's "Capitalist" Experiment. China only recognizes enemies or underlings. There are no friends. The West must realize this.
- On a probably related note - Chinese billionaires and CEO's keep disappearing in "state sanctioned kidnappings"
- And on an absolutely related note - Alibaba founder Jack Ma, China's richest man, is missing
- Big rock fan but the best album on this list is probably Carole King's Tapestry (HT Steve Landry)
Quotes for Today
Some quotes that I hope may resonate with you.
"It does good also to take walks out of doors, that our spirits may be raised and refreshed by the open air and fresh breeze." - Seneca
"You're spending time to save money when you should be spending money to save time." - Naval Ravikant
"The cliche goes like this; live each day as if it were your last. The best way to take this advice is to do exactly the opposite: live each day as if you would live forever." - Peter Thiel
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." - Matthew 7:13
"Set the stage for something to happen. Something incredible. Something unexpected." - Rick Rubin
"Reading a book isn't a race - the better the book, the slower it should be absorbed." - Naval Ravikant
"The biggest generator of long term results is learning to do things when you don't feel like doing them." - Shane Parrish
Monday, January 04, 2021
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Hydroxychloroquine - a tale of how medicine and science were polluted by politics. Medical malpractice is already the third leading cause of death in the US - this pollution just makes it worse. (Long read but really take the time to soak in the story told and the implications.)
- 13 writing tips from Bird by Bird author Anne Lamott
- Interesting backstory to a photo I think most of us have seen by now.
- Did the Coronavirus escape from a lab? Short answer YES! "80 million people have been infected, and, surprisingly, no public investigation has taken place." That's because the Chinese know this came from the lab in Wuhan.
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
Saddened to hear of the passing of basketball great Paul Westphal a man who you never heard a bad thing about. And someone who many described as a better person than basketball player - and Westphal is in the Hall of Fame as a player... I laughed way too much at this lady... Someone at NOAA with a sense of humor should name the next major hurricane "Siri" just to mess with people with Apple products... My take-away from the college football semi-finals is that Northwestern must have a much better defense than Clemson... Lawrence Mass teacher "proud" to have taken Homer's Odyssey out of the curriculum. First I'm willing to bet that Lawrence has some of the lowest test scores in the state (and with this jackass teaching it's no wonder). Second let's go all the way with this and say since most past accomplishments were by dead white males then everything must be created from scratch to insure that they are free of any past racism. I suggest that we start with the wheel. Let's get rid of anything that has a wheel. The lever - that's next. Better yet let's just make every student in Lawrence get home schooled or attend a charter school instead...
Quotes for Today
Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.
"Hell can't be made attractive, so the devil makes attractive the road that leads there." - Saint Basil the Great
"A rational person can find peace by cultivating indifference to things outside their control." - Naval Ravikant
"To be completely cured of newspapers, spend a year reading the previous week's newspapers." - Nassim Taleb
"Through our eyes, the universe perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witness through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence." - Alan Watts
"We are here on Earth to fart around." - Kurt Vonnegut
"The twentieth century was great and terrible, and the twenty-first century promises to be far greater and more terrible." - Peter Thiel
Sunday, January 03, 2021
Operation Paperclip
Recently read Annie Jacobsen's book Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program That Brought Nazi Scientists to America. It was a well written book about a difficult subject but a subject that needed telling.
Besides the obvious of Werner von Braun and the German rocket scientists that were integral to the US's space program and landing a man on the moon, the German scientists also contributed to the creation of Agent Orange in Vietnam and the creation of VX gas which was thankfully never used (except as a plot device to the 1996 movie The Rock). The Nazi scientists also laid the foundations for DARPA - so should they be given credit for all the benefits that stemmed from that program?
Central question of the book to me was what is worse - the Nazi's saying they were "only following orders?" Or the Americans looking past what a man had actually done because of what their science could do? I understand it was a different time and the threat from the Soviets was very real. Very real. So I'm biased about our actions because I have the luxury of not having to live through those threats of when nuclear war with the USSR was a real fear.
One "what if" from the book that really troubled me. Germany had huge stockpiles of Sarin gas but never used it (they invented Sarin gas!). They invented this chemical super-weapon but never used it. Why? They were willing to kill millions of Jews and others - why wasn't Hitler willing to use Sarin on the Eastern Front? How different would world history be if they did?
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
It's a week past Christmas - can we all agree that there's no excuse for still playing Christmas music under any circumstances (unless the 24/7 music is being used to torture a confession out of someone)... Business idea - start a religion that is centered on finding the Christian messages in movies - any movie. That gives you the excuse to open a movie theater and charge "donations" to "parishioners." You could even sell sacramental popcorn, soda and snacks. The minister could deliver a brief sermon before the screening... Gordie Howe patriot!... Cam Newton seems to be a nice enough guy but I hope today is his last game in a Patriots uniform. I also hope New England never adds another vegan to its roster... Flaming Muffins would be a great name for a lesbian punk band... Who knew? Pro-Football-Reference lists one of Gardner Minshew's nicknames as the "Jockstrap King." What the heck is the story behind that?...
Saturday, January 02, 2021
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Interesting insights into Xi Jinping and the workings of Communist China. The article states that "propaganda is the 'lifeblood' of the party state" which to me just seems evil. The author also seems a fan of Xi Jinping because (in my words) "he gets the trains to run on time." It is important to understand the arguments of the other side - but the arguments presented here are filled with obvious holes and inconsistencies.
- Heh Heh
- 9 Facts about Charles Bronson
- Heh Heh
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
Started my 2021 yesterday with 3 large cups of coffee and a pound of bacon. How's your new year going?... Funny how they seem to say the same thing every year whether we're in a "pandemic" or not. It's as if they can't be trusted (or socialized medicine is inefficient)... Only 37 defensemen league-wide, including line-mate Charlie McAvoy, totaled more 5-on-5 ice time than Zdeno Chara. Even fewer played more penalty kill minutes. Heavy workload for a guy the Bruins are trying to paint as a reserve player at best... In 1993 when Japan was threatening America's economic dominance Hollywood came out with the film Rising Sun. Today nobody in Hollywood has the courage to come out with a similar film regarding Communist China... Zdeno Chara's heir-apparent with the Bruins, Matt Grzelcyk, is literally a foot shorter and 75-pounds lighter than Chara. No way he's the same "big brother" protective presence as Chara. Boston's top line is going to pay a physical price for Chara not being in the lineup... Still say that Hoof Hearted is the greatest name for a racehorse ever... The Bible was wrong - 2020 is the number of the Beast...
Friday, January 01, 2021
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- 8 rules to do everything better
- Peter Thiel's Religion. (Long read which I've actually posted before but I find Peter Thiel a fascinating character worth revisiting.)
- Lockdown: A deadly, failed experiment. "We must never go down this road again." Amen!
- 100 Tips for a Better Life. Some good advice and tips (HT Tim Ferriss)
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
If it was called the Narcissism of Small Differences instead of Facebook - how many people would use it? Which name is actually a more accurate description of the "service?"... The wife of Moses was Zipporah. It is amazing how lost to history she has become. We really know zip about Zipporah... If you're looking for something to watch - really liked the prison flick Shot Caller with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jamie Lannister from Game of Thrones). The movie's on Neflix... Polish Lobsters would be a good name for a band... Not really into New Year's resolutions but what I do instead is a form of behavior modification. I had found myself drinking too much so I'm giving up alcohol for the month of January. For February I will be taking the month off from social media (Twitter and Instagram). And in March I'll be giving up coffee. I'll decide on what other behavior modifications I want to do from there...
Quotes for Today
Some quotes that I hope may resonate with you.
"The single most important thing that you want to do is avoid stupid errors. Know the edge of your own competency. That's very hard to do because the human mind naturally tried to make you think you're way smarter than you are." - Charlie Munger
"There's nothing wrong with my sense of reality. I have it serviced every fortnight." - Douglas Adams
"People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents." - Andrew Carnegie
"We often like to think of World War II as a triumph of freedom over totalitarianism. We conveniently forget that the Soviet Union was also one of the winners." - Paul Graham
"Beware the man of a single book." - Thomas Aquinas
"I believe that the job we all have in life is to acquire knowledge and wisdom and then share it." - Tobi Lutke
"You can't live a successful life without doing some difficult things that go wrong. That's just the nature of the game, and you wouldn't be sufficiently courageous if you tried to avoid every single reverse." - Charlie Munger
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)