Tentative Bravo
Earlier I presumed that Zelensky had to be our SOB, because he was elected and not assassinated.

Might have been a bad presumption**. While we are still engaging in years of pointless incomprehensible wrangling about one meaningless phone call between Trump and Zelensky, the real Zelensky is serving his own people. In a meeting today with Putin, Merkel and Macron, he agreed to carry out a ceasefire and other steps to end the war and reunite Ukraine. The terms had been proposed several years ago in a similar meeting with Poroshenko, but Poroshenko was unquestionably our SOB. He didn't take any of the steps.

This agreement also moves Merkel and Macron considerably away from NATO/US aggression, and toward the sane side of the world.

Tentatively, Bravo! But still watching for signs of fakery.

** I start with the presumption that Manweller's Rule (elections aren't allowed to change things) is universal, but it really isn't. There are countries where Manweller doesn't apply, and there are heroic rulers like FDR and Orban and Putin who take charge, fully subdue Deepstate, and temporarily invalidate Manweller.
  ¶ 4:56 PM

  Dial-a-frog
The Eurekalert writers are having fun with this one:

The FrogPhone introduces a new concept that allows researchers to "call" a frog habitat, any time, from anywhere, once the device has been installed. The device has been developed at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Canberra and the University of Canberra in collaboration with the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and Region Frogwatch Program and the Australian National University.

The FrogPhone utilises 3G/4G cellular mobile data coverage and capitalises on the characteristic wideband audio of mobile phones, which acts as a carrier for frog calls. Real time frog calls can be transmitted across the 3G/4G network infrastructure, directly to the user's phone. This supports clear sound quality and minimal background noise, allowing users to identify the calls of different frog species.

Well, it's not a new concept. Call-up telemetry via telegraph has been common since 1870, and via telephone lines with sound since 1920. But I'll grant credit for cuteness. We can use some levity.

Labels: Morsenet of Things

  ¶ 6:51 AM

  Interesting but not quite meaningful yet....
Via New "Scientist":

Previously, devices have been attached to plants to record the vibrations caused by air bubbles forming and exploding – a process known as cavitation – inside xylem tubes, which are used for water transport. But this new study is the first time that sounds from plants have been measured at a distance.

On average, drought-stressed tomato plants made 35 sounds an hour, while tobacco plants made 11. When plant stems were cut, tomato plants made an average of 25 sounds in the following hour, and tobacco plants 15. Unstressed plants produced fewer than one sound per hour, on average.

There's no doubt that plants are intelligent. They have senses and outputs, and they think and communicate.

This particular set of outputs doesn't necessarily serve as communication. It could simply be the result of liquid moving through the veins and capillaries of the stem to reach the injured place or to redistribute water. Insects could certainly use the sound whether it's intentional or not.

Labels: Smarty-plants

  ¶ 12:20 AM

  Euclid would be proud
The vandal who ate the banana was NOT arrested because he was already known to be a criminal.

The vandal who wrote a

on the same wall was arrested because he was NOT known to be a criminal.

Sane people have known for many decades that "art" is pure fraud, but this takes the proof to the next step. This proves beyond all doubt that "art" is an integral part of Epstein's criminal network.

A parallel sequence happened a couple months ago in the realm of "science". Sane people have known for decades that big "science" is a fraud. During the 15 minutes when the Epstein window was open, we learned that several big fraudulent labs had close financial and personal ties to the Epstein mob.

The "performance art" piece titled Epstein's Suicide closed the window.

= = = = =

Later skill-related thought..... For many years I've been asking why there's no GUILD action in science. There are many honest scientists in fields like engineering and materials and medicine. The reputation of science is RUINED by the fraudsters in "climate" and "social science" and "economics". Worst of all is "particle physics", solely devoted to obliterating the universe with a black hole. Why don't the honest fields disown the dishonest and murderous ones?

Now the same plaintive question in art. There are plenty of honest artists in the more mundane areas of commercial graphics, and among freelancers on Etsy or similar platforms. They produce REAL paintings and pottery and jewelry, and sell their work for rational prices. Why don't they disown the fraudsters of "abstract" and "performance" and "installations" who are hogging the spotlight and the money?

Labels: Carbon Cult, skill-estate

  ¶ 11:28 PM

  Might be right
As usual, BBC's travel section has some interesting and fairly objective articles, totally unlike the pure Soros poison of the "news" section.

This article describes Point Roberts, a US enclave on the tip of Vancouver BC. Some people believe Point Roberts is used as a big safe-house for FBI operations like Agent Provocateur Protection.

A persistent rumour describes Point Roberts as a popular resettlement site for the US Federal Witness Protection Program, an initiative to assist informants who testify against criminals. Folklore says dozens of people have been given new identities and relocated here. In 2012, Atlantic.com’s City Lab suggested that 50 residents could be in the program.

Unlikely. FBI doesn't let rumors out.

But maybe it's true. Googlestreet untells the unstory of the uncity:



Interesting that Canada placed Diefenbaker Park right up against the border.

= = = = =

A few minutes later, YouTube 'suggested for you' correctly translated my silly puns:

BBC: Maps reveal hidden truths of the world's cities.

Which is more scary, the officially invisible city or the instant accurate translation of semi-coded language?

Labels: Askedanswered

  ¶ 12:29 AM

  She's precisely correct
The "independents" are mocking this Twitter post from Hillary:

In the United States of America, no one is above the law.

Not ironic or paradoxical or hypocritical, just factual.

Hillary is the law. Nobody is above Hillary.

Labels: Answered better than asked

  ¶ 12:04 AM

  Not needed, not better
Dave Rubin is launching an alternative to Patreon.

Jordan Peterson is also launching a similar effort, which isn't ready yet. Peterson smells like Agent Provocateur to me, so I'm not interested.

Rubin seems benign, but it's not clear why his effort is needed or better than existing methods. The definitely good part is paid subscriptions instead of advertising. Customer, not product. But Patreon already works by subscription, and Patreon has taken down a number of "controversial" creators. The same external forces that act on Patreon will be acting on Rubin's setup. Paypal can shut off the payments whenever it wants.


Not needed:

All sorts of "controversial" info is easily available through all sorts of channels. If Youtube chops a clip, it doesn't matter. Many other clips with the same "controversy" are still there.

I've been saying lots of "controversial" things here for 15 years, and I've never had anything taken down for that reason. The only things that were removed were a couple of OTR clips and a couple of photographs, both for copyright reasons, not political reasons.


Not better:

One commenter says that paywalls make it hard to persuade people by inviting them to look at a video or text.

Persuasion doesn't work that way. Nobody is going to watch a clip that comes from The Horrible Other Side, whether it costs money or not. Discussion and debate are totally pointless.

Changes of attitude happen through serendipity.

When you're working on a neutral and important task, working with people of other religions and ethnicities, you see the good and bad parts of their ethnicities more objectively. You lose both positive and negative prejudices.

When you're reading old technical or literary material, you bump into references to other ways of thinking in a non-threatening context. That's how I changed my attitudes toward Islam and the Soviet system around 2012. It wasn't from watching Al-Jazeera or RT.

But you have to be open to serendipity first. You need to unplug the TV. You need to be dissatisfied with standard modes of thought and propaganda.

= = = = =

Apologetic sidenote: When I first wrote about attempts to compete with the tech-monsters last year, I didn't understand the payment connection. I assumed falsely that subscription vs advertising was the only variable. Later I realized that payment systems were the real controller.
  ¶ 10:32 AM

  Bad idea
Some of the TSLAQ twitterites are responding to Elon's latest victory over "laws" and morality by engaging in counter-bullying, perhaps on the grounds that he can't sue everyone.

Bad idea. Elon won't learn anything from it, he won't feel shame, he WILL sue all of you, and he WILL win. Most likely he will obtain an injunction prohibiting all criticism and short-selling, and this injunction WILL be ruthlessly enforced by SEC.

We need to give up the suicidal myth that "laws" and "constitutions" exist. There is only one law in this part of the world, and Elon is safely inside it.

Labels: $TSLAQ, Sorosia

  ¶ 9:19 AM

  That's what Morris was doing!
Chris Hedges said that Bill Clinton turned Democrats into Republicans and turned Republicans into crazy far-far-right-KKK-HITLERS.

Leaving aside the standard nonsensical terminology, he's onto something. I hadn't thought back to that period for a while. Looking at the '90s in light of Hillary's later employment of Trump as Pied Piper, the technique makes sense.

AHA! That's what Dick Morris was doing. In the '90s we were happy that Dick had "changed sides" and started "working against the Clintons." Nope. He was just turning us into a precisely fitted foil for the Clinton machine. The machine needed to move all the elite and soccer-mom and tech-monster types from R to D, so Dick (assisted by Rush, Fox, etc) shaped the Repoofs into a maximally aversive landscape for those types.

It's the same trick Roy Cohn pulled over and over. First with McCarthy, then with the Birchers, then with Trump. Create a precisely designed villain-magnet that will attract all the people who need to be slaughtered. Then slaughter them.
  ¶ 2:07 AM

  The sun rose this morning
And Elon gets away with every crime in the books.

Equally predictable.

Blackmail is everything. Mossad never loses.

Labels: $TSLAQ, infinite infinite infinite infinite evil, infinite infinite infinite infinite infinite infinite infinite INFINITE INFINITE INFINITE INFINITE INFINITE INFINITE INFINITE lunacy

  ¶ 2:36 PM

  Fractal banana
ZH correctly mocks the latest idiocy in the world of "art" where name and provenance are EXACTLY EVERYTHING. An "artist" who apparently has a "name" has sold a plain old banana ductaped to a wall for $120,000.

ZH missed a parallel, which may not be a national phenomenon. In local grocery stores, buying one banana is the standard way for food-stamp customers to get cash for drugs. They slap down the banana, insert the EBT card in the scanner, and ask for $50 extra. Apparently it's illegal to just use the EBT card as an ATM; you have to buy something that counts as food. Real food is unnecessary for a methie, so the transaction is shaped for minimum nutrition and maximum cashback.



So the banana as physical icon for totally wasted money is fractally valid at all scales.

= = = = =

Later: A commenter at ZH probably got closest to the truth. "Conceptual art" is a money-laundering scheme, and the evidence disappears on its own.

Labels: Entertainment, meta-entertainment

  ¶ 1:09 PM

  Still grumpy
Speaking of monsters who get paid and recognized:

"Expert" Krugman is paid millions and gets Nobel Prizes....

OK, this is extremely weird. I received an email saying that a payment has been received into my blockchain wallet. But I don't have a blockchain wallet. Presumably there's some kind of fraud going on, but what?

... and he can't recognize an ECONOMIC fraud.

Some of the commenters are blaming Krugman's age (OK Boomer and all that) but they're wrong.

This is the oldest setup in the world. And this instance actually reverts BY NAME to the oldest version of the oldest setup, the wallet drop.

TV and radio used to warn us about scams and frauds. Even among the scattered remnants of old TV and radio shows, I can immediately cite two examples of the wallet drop: This is your FBI, 1945 and Racket Squad, 1951.

Modern versions are better known as the Nigerian Prince. The rig is always the same. You stumble onto a potential "windfall", then you pay to get access to the "windfall", then the "windfall" disappears after you pay.

Krugman doesn't recognize any of this. Why the fuck should we recognize him?

What's the fucking purpose of an economics expert who KNOWS LESS THAN WE DO ABOUT ECONOMICS?

= = = = =

As long as I'm citing old radio, It Pays to be Ignorant was an explicit parody of "experts" who know less than we do. It was modeled on Info Please, which had a panel of arrogant condescending NYC "experts" like Krugman. Ignorant had three intentional idiots who found an infinite number of ways to miss the point.

Example questions:

How many lakes are in the five Great Lakes?

Which wild animal is on the buffalo nickel?

Can you name a President who started life as a baby?

What liquid is contained in a fountain pen?

When is a June Bride married?

And the best of all:

Can you name the people who star in the radio program It Pays to be Ignorant?

The "experts" were expert comedians. Their obtuse struggles with self-evident facts were genuinely funny. It's not so funny when an obtuse idiot advises governments and corporations.

Labels: Entertainment, meta-entertainment

  ¶ 5:32 AM

  Grumpy
Reviewing yesterday's thought that labor unions were banks for human capital. They improved skills through training and experience (interest); they protected skills from low-priced competition and theft (vaults); and they made sure the skills were employed to create real value (investment).

The Soviet system continued this respect for human capital long after it was lost in the Soros world. Free training that emphasized skills; no offshoring of industries; and patents that recognized innovation instead of killing it.

= = = = =

I got into a grumpy mood today, comparing things that I shouldn't try to compare. I can't really complain; my creative work is recognized in a small way and paid in a small way. Not entirely futile. The work itself is tremendously satisfying.

Still, it's annoying to see what gets MASSIVELY recognized and paid. Pure destruction. Raw sin and crime. Killing and torturing millions of people. Obliterating the universe by making black holes. Using science to serve bankers and intel agencies.

And specifically on this topic, the Github Syndrome. Constant changes in technology, always expanding the required universe of compatibility. Each increase in global compatibility knocks out huge pieces of skill. It's not just a question of changing a presentation to fit the new tech; some forms of presentation that were possible in the Windows universe are IMPOSSIBLE in the HTML/SVG/CSS universe. Even if you can make it work for one combination of browsers and iPhones, it won't work for some other.

Just as globalized language grinds off all fine points of metaphor and idiom, globalized tech grinds off the fine points of interactive presentation.

Big question: If labor unions had survived into the era of software, would they have improved things? Would a union manage to slow down the Githubbers?

Labels: Asked and unanswerable, Natural law = Soviet law, skill-estate

  ¶ 2:33 PM

  Speaking arcs in action
Old pre-1900 tech books made vague references to 'speaking arcs'. Before loudspeakers, experimenters were able to use arc lights as sound emitters. In the same way that lightning produces thunder, changing the strength of ionization created a compression wave around the arc. Supposedly a German train station used a 'speaking arc' for a PA system to announce arrivals and departures.

Here's a specific non-vague example, from a modern history of radio in the Seattle area.



Transcript:

A "musical trolley car" on the Seattle-Tacoma interurban line, about 1915. Experimenter Paul Hackett, working in Kent Valley with an arc transmitter and powerful microphone, discovered his signals were modulating the nearby trolley line's power system. Arc lamps on the cars acted like receivers and reproduced Hackett's music and voice transmissions, to the delight of riders.

One of the tests was also picked up by an electric heater in the home of a woman who happened to know Hackett. Recognizing his voice, the startled lady was sure the inventor was hiding under her bed.

Bear in mind that Morse was common in 1915, but voice transmissions were unfamiliar until about 1922.



Electric heaters would have been effective speakers for wired radio, with a resistive coil focused in a parabolic reflector. Magnetostriction.

Note also the Seattle to Tacoma interurban line. Interurbans connected everything, and often ran at 70 MPH. There is a modern light rail system from Seattle to the SeaTac airport, but it's not going to reach Tacoma again until 2030.

Labels: 1901, Entertainment

  ¶ 10:12 PM

  One area where skill DOESN'T matter.
The TSLAQ folks who are actually present at the Elon vs Unsworth trial are pretty sure that Elon will win. They believe Unsworth's lawyer is incompetent.

This seems to be a long-lasting and general observation. I've had two direct contacts with lawyers and three 'observations' during jury calls. I was strongly UNimpressed with the performance of every lawyer. None of them had any skills, and some weren't even literate.

The first lawyer, hired by parents in 1969 for my marijuana charge, was supposedly topnotch and well-connected. He was a direct descendant of the Shad Hanna dynasty that ruled Ohio for decades. He didn't know what he was doing. In the most recent jury call, the Saudi defendant was rich and could hire the best lawyer. His lawyer didn't know what he was doing, and the prosecutor wasn't any better. The case was full of ambiguities. I might have acquitted if the defense lawyer hadn't insulted our intelligence at every turn.

I suspect the real variable has nothing to do with the courtroom skills of lawyers, because "law" doesn't exist. Blackmail exists. Elon is going to win because he is Satan. He has no moral code or limitations at all, and he has strong connections to Mossad and USA Deepstate. He used nasty fixers and "investigators" to ruin Unsworth, and probably subverted Unsworth's lawyer as well. Elon operates outside of all "laws" and regulations. All bureaucrats and officials know that he has the goods on them.

In short, lawyers don't matter because "law" doesn't matter.

= = = = =

Nasty filthy update a few days later: Unsworth's lawyer wasn't incompetent, he was a traitor. We don't know if he was bought and blackmailed before the trial or during, but now he's joyfully proclaiming his loyalty to Lord Elon.

Labels: $TSLAQ, Constants and Variables, Jail mode, NOT skill-estate

  ¶ 2:22 PM

  The imperceptible Insatiable
I've described a classic Insatiable response to Deplorables...

Other people enjoy discussing my faults in my presence, knowing that the bottom-status item will not fight. One of them realized I was listening. He gave me the standard imperceptible headshake with hooded eyes and pursed lips, meaning "You are shit".

... but I've never tried to catch a video example of the gesture. Now somebody has caught it in an interaction of Kamala and Tulsi. Kamala is unquestionably Insatiable. Tulsi isn't Deplorable in the broad picture, but she's clearly Deplorable as seen by Kamala.

One of the commenters uses almost the same words:

Next time someone embarrasses me with a valid, fact-filled argument for which I have zero retort, I’ll smirk, disapprovingly shake my head, and pretend to scribble on a notepad

Labels: Entertainment

  ¶ 7:02 AM

  The most important thing about unions
Soros-sponsored TAC has a pretty good article on the importance of unions as a counterforce to robber barons.

The author makes the same point I made a few months ago about the three ages:

= = = = = START REPRINT:

Between the two Gilded Ages we had the Union Age, 1933 to 1979. Predatory corporations existed, but they were CONSTRAINED by hardass Fed regulators AND by hardass unions. They knew exactly how far they could grow, and they didn't try to go beyond the limits. They were forced to operate on PROFIT and DIVIDENDS instead of share value, which means they were forced to have EMPLOYEES and PRODUCTS.

I've covered that territory too often.

New thought:

During a Gilded Age, robber barons have names. Everyone can list several robber barons. During the Union Age, there weren't any named or famed robber barons. In fact the most famous leaders were union leaders.

Gilded Age 1 = Carnegie, Vanderbilt, Morgan, Mellon, Stanford.

Union Age = Jimmy Hoffa, James Petrillo, Walter Reuther.

Gilded Age 2 = Gates, Bezos, Zuckerberg, Jobs, Musk.

= = = = = END REPRINT.

I wrote a comment on the article appreciating the main focus and adding the most important aspect of unions: SKILL aka HUMAN CAPITAL.

Humans are meant to be useful. Specifically, men are meant to MAKE THINGS. Unions were organizations of makers, and they did everything necessary to preserve the GOD-ASSIGNED DUTY of their members.

In writing the comment I also caught something that I hadn't thought of before. I've said before that unions amassed and protected human capital by training and improving the skills of their members.

I hadn't noticed before that unions protected their human capital from cheap knockoffs and foreign competition. When unions were in charge of a workplace, they had strict rules forbidding non-union workers from doing jobs that were part of the union's skill capital. These rules often seemed silly, but they were the most important part of the union's task.

The analogy between money capital and human capital was complete. Unions treated human capital the same way banks treated money capital. Savings earned interest (experience and training); savings were guarded against theft; savings were employed to create more value.

In the '70s unions lost the human capital aspect and focused solely on wages, which really meant the wealth of the union leaders. They were perfectly willing to destroy entire categories of skills to maintain the wealth of the leaders.

Unions lost their DUTY and deserved to fail.

Labels: Natural law = Sharia law, Natural law = Soviet law, skill-estate

  ¶ 11:01 PM

  CYBRTRK's origin
As I peruse old car mags while eating, I've been halfway watching for previous examples of Elon's idiot CYBRTRK. Nobody could have done something so stupid, even as a concept car.

But there is a predecessor. It wasn't a car or even an actual concept car. It was a concept of a concept car.



The '49 Ford had this emblem on the decorative chrome strip above the doorhandles. The strip was unnecessary and the emblem was even more unnecessary. It added another rattle to an already rattly car. It's not clear what the designers were trying to do. If they were stirring up anticipation for Ford's next product, it couldn't have worked. Nobody wanted to ride in this grotesque thing.

Ford made a few concept cars in the mid-50s, but none remotely resembled this thing. Why would anyone want a car with a gable roof? Houses have gable roofs.

In fact the CYBRTRK drawing was actually LESS modern and LESS trend-setting than the Ford itself. Most writers agree that the '49 was the main influence for the straight-through design of the next two decades. A few cars got there slightly earlier; Packard and Hudson and Kaiser had the flow in '48. But Ford did it right, with fenders above the hood and trunk, and taillights at the same height as the headlights. Ford's actual next product in '52 was even cleaner and sharper. Chrysler followed the trend in '53, then GM in '54.

I was thinking about citing earlier examples, but one of the excellent writers at CurbsideClassic did the whole job just now, starting in the '20s.

[The '50 Rambler seemed to follow the '49 Ford directly, almost a copy... but in fact the Ford was copied from Nash. George Walker had designed the Rambler, then moved to Ford and brought the idea with him. Ford was able to tool up and switch faster. Unethical but not illegal.]

Later: Another predecessor came from Ford. The 1966 'Magic Cruiser' concept car had a similar shape and a similar flip-up rear.

Labels: $TSLAQ

  ¶ 5:29 AM

  Meanwhile,
Meanwhile, in the sane part of the world, Russia and China just turned on the first natural gas pipeline from Siberia to China.



We're tangled up in endless meaningless "court" proceedings and "environmental" proceedings that delay the start of every project by 30 years, effectively canceling every project before it starts.

Russia and China are GETTING SHIT DONE, linking the Eastern Hemisphere with pipes and roads and railroads, factoring out the Western Hemisphere and Ctrl-Zing Columbus.

Irrelevant: The ceremony in the video strikes me as historically confused and anticlimactic, with old-fashioned voice commands and permissions driving a mouse click. Since the commands were obviously staged, they should have staged real hands opening a real valve.

Later: Oddly, RT got this story wrong in a way that underrates Russian capability and skill. Rick Sanchez and two correspondents all stated clearly that the public event marked the start of construction, not the end. They were discussing the potential benefits when the project is eventually done. This made me doubt the Russia Insight video, but many other sources including US media agree that the pipeline is now finished and running.

Labels: skill-estate

  ¶ 6:14 AM

  Another stage prop
More misuse of tariffs by Trump, supposedly to punish other countries but actually to punish America.

Now he's threatening to impose tariffs on steel from Argentina and Brazil, who are supposedly using currency rates to undercut American farmers. Nonsense.

We constantly export twice as much as we import with Argentina.

Ditto for Brazil.

Our ag imports from Argentina are almost entirely tropical fruits that we can't produce here. This is already the CORRECT form of trade by good populist standards.

Our ag imports from Brazil are mainly coffee. Again a crop we can't produce here.

Argentina and Brazil are NOT competing in any way with American farmers. They may be competing with American steel producers, but the reason we lost our steel producers was EPA rules, not foreign competition. If we hadn't closed down metals and mining in the '70s, there wouldn't have been an opening for sane countries with sane regulations to expand their industries.

So what's the purpose? Trump isn't hurting China, which will continue trading with both countries. He may slightly bother the steel industry in Brazil and Argentina, but they are already moving their focus eastward. This threat will strengthen their connections to the Silk Road, which will hurt our EXPORTS more than our imports.

Mainly Trump is just building another stage prop that he can move around to manipulate the Dow and the Fed. His tweet explicitly aims the action at the Fed.

And who loses from infinite Dow and zero interest? Americans. The same Americans (including me) who foolishly and stupidly voted for this vile faker.

Labels: malign misattribution

  ¶ 5:16 AM