Friday, January 31, 2014
Too much karma
A rather unusual fake "hate crime" in Spokane. (Fake "hate crime" is redundant, of course, since the concept itself is fake and 99.999999% of the supposed examples turn out to be self-inflicted frauds.)
This one isn't as aggravating as most. It has been properly exposed, the perp has been arrested, and karma will take care of justice.
Two Chinese sisters had been running an espresso kiosk. Last week they reported a small burned spot on the building and some spray-painted graffiti: "Go back to China." The writing had a distinctly Chinese flavor to the strokes, so I was immediately sure of the fakeness.
Lots of smarmy liberals made a big point of buying lots of coffee at the stand, to make the sisters feel welcome, which they were already.
Now the cops have arrested one of the sisters for 2nd degree arson, and have stated clearly and firmly that the whole thing was fake. Both actions are welcome and rare. Usually the perp gets away with fraud because Die-Versity Rules All.
The cops didn't need to guess by the shape of the writing; the kiosk's own security tapes showed the sister doing the burning and painting!
Karma, but maybe too much karma. Those smarmy liberals will now feel cheated, and will gain a dislike for Chinese people, though they won't admit it. This dislike will be unfair.
I don't like Chinese people either, but I understand that the 'China problem' has nothing to do with the character of China's population.
We have two separate problems with China, both of which are PURELY caused by American traitors.
One problem is China's intense and all-encompassing 30-year-long espionage in universities, industries and government. This wouldn't have been possible if our universities, industries and government had been properly cautious. When you are penetrated by people who obviously and openly come from a hostile country, and who obviously and openly state their intention to steal your technology, it's absolutely your own fucking fault and your own fucking treason. Entirely different from the earlier Soviet subversion, which was much more subtle and secret, and was mainly performed ... both wittingly and unwittingly ... by Americans.
The bigger problem is outsourcing. Again China didn't force American corporate traitors to move jobs overseas. It just made factories cheap, convenient and available to all takers. Again compare with an earlier situation: Around 1950, European factory workers were highly skilled, desperately available and starvingly cheap. But American corporations chose not to commit treason. Those jobs stayed in America.
¶ 5:59 PM 
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Austerity =
I see the Modern Monetary Theory scammers are coming to life again with their idiotic Magic Platinum Coin trick.
"Just as sumer is icumen in, so too are budget fights. And that means another opportunity to talk up the platinum coin as a way around budgetary tactics designed to inflict austerity on ordinary Americans."
A big part of the problem, as I mentioned before, is the word austerity. I don't think it was intended to be deceptive. It was applied to EU actions for convenience, and doesn't have the same flavor in Euro and English. It's a False Friend like actual and control and realize, which are nearly universal but have entirely different meanings in different languages.
The MMT scammers are using this confusion to distract us from the proper answer.
What Germany is inflicting on Greece is NOT austerity=frugality. It is simply a Leveraged Buyout. Nothing new. Germany pulled austerity=LBOs in that part of the world in the 1930s as a cheap way of enslaving those weak but resource-rich Balkan countries. Use various tactics to get the country indebted to Germany, then take control to satisfy the debt, then cut costs to eliminate pesky humans, then own the real estate. Austerity=LBO.
Ordinary Americans have NOT been suffering from government-imposed austerity=frugality because there ISN'T ANY SUCH FUCKING THING. We have been massively suffering from austerity=LBO, but not at the government level. Jobs have disappeared because Share Value Is Supreme. Companies that formerly invested in factories and gave good jobs to low-skill males have been LBOed, and the jobs have been eliminated or handed to foreigners.
Ordinary Americans recognize the importance of austerity=frugality. Despite lack of jobs, we've been pulling ourselves out of personal debt since 2008. The quiet but informative econ blogger MyBudget360 shows a surprising comparison of US vs Canada. We think of those Scottish Canadians as champions of austerity=frugality, but in fact they've been rolling up more debt since 2008 while US consumers have been painfully cleaning up our act.
The correct solution must be imposed by government, but not by any sort of budgetary device. The correct answer to Krugman On Crack should be Glass-Steagall On Crack. Literally and concretely. Treat speculators and LBOers the same way Crips treat Bloods. Or in metallic terms, we need lead instead of platinum.
= = = = =
Sidenote: On 'Scottish Canadians' I wanted to href the old joke about all Canadian men being named either Duncan or Stewart. Google couldn't locate the joke because it was clogged up with THOUSANDS of LinkedIn and Facebook pages from Canadians named Duncan Stewart or Stewart Duncan. Digital version of the same joke, I guess.
Labels: Language update, the broken circle
¶ 2:41 AM
Monday, March 03, 2008
Good news, sorta maybe halfway almost.
Long quote from an AP news article.
Three notes:
1. This could be a good thing if the NET number of dams actually increases.... if the construction to serve humans outpaces the terrorism to serve salmon. (Terrorism? Yes. Breaching dams is an act of war, whether it's done by an enemy power speaking a foreign language or by "our own" government. The worst irony of all is that we have National Guard personnel guarding dams against breaching by foreign-language-speaking terrorists. What are the soldiers supposed to do when the dam is bombed by "our own" government?)
2. The article makes no mention of adding generators to the new dams. I assume this is because hydropower has been defined by the Earth Goddess as "non-renewable", in order to guarantee our continued dependence on "clean and renewable" Russian and Venezuelan oil.
3. Note the dateline is Spokane, even though none of the major players are in Spokane. The article is discussing plans made by four state governments, and Spokane is not the capital of any of them. Hmmmmmmm. Wonder who the AP reporter was talking to? Wonder why the reporter was writing the article in Spokane? Can't begin to guess. Total mystery. ¶ 9:07 AM
SPOKANE, Wash. - The Western states' era of massive dam construction -- which tamed rivers, swallowed towns, and created irrigated agriculture, cheap hydropower and environmental problems -- effectively ended in 1966 with the completion of Glen Canyon Dam.
But the region's booming population and growing fears about climate change have governments once again studying construction of dams to capture more winter rain and spring snowmelt for use in dry summer months.
"The West and the Northwest are increasing in population growth like never before," said John Redding, regional spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in Boise. "How do you quench the thirst of the hungry masses?"
Ironically, consideration of new dams comes even as older ones are being torn down across the country because of environmental concerns -- worries that will likely pose big obstacles to new construction. In Oregon, a deal has been struck to remove four dams on the Klamath River to restore struggling salmon runs.
There are lots of other ideas for increasing water supplies in the West. They include conservation, storing water in natural underground aquifers, pipelines to carry water from the mountains, desalination plants to make drinking water from the ocean, small dams to serve local areas.
Most of those ideas are much more popular than big new dams.
Washington's Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire put together a coalition of business, government and environmental groups to create the Columbia River Management Plan, which calls for spending $200 million to study various proposals for finding more water for arid eastern Washington.
Jay Manning, director of the Washington state Department of Ecology, believes that huge new dams on the main stems of rivers are unlikely. But it is quite possible that tributaries will be dammed.
"It is inevitable we will take steps to increase water supply," Manning said. "Storage is part of that solution."
With demand for water already high, pressure is being increased by fears that climate change will produce rain instead of snow in winter, reducing the slow-melting snowpack that provides water in dry summer months.
Gregoire's plan drew the support of many environmentalists by including many ideas they prefer, including conservation measures and metering more uses of water.
But the state also is studying dams, drawing opposition from some environmentalists, particularly a group called the Center for Environmental Law and Policy.
"Our water future doesn't lie with new dams," said Dr. John Osborn, a Spokane physician and chairman of the Sierra Club chapter in Spokane. "It's water conservation."
Three notes:
1. This could be a good thing if the NET number of dams actually increases.... if the construction to serve humans outpaces the terrorism to serve salmon. (Terrorism? Yes. Breaching dams is an act of war, whether it's done by an enemy power speaking a foreign language or by "our own" government. The worst irony of all is that we have National Guard personnel guarding dams against breaching by foreign-language-speaking terrorists. What are the soldiers supposed to do when the dam is bombed by "our own" government?)
2. The article makes no mention of adding generators to the new dams. I assume this is because hydropower has been defined by the Earth Goddess as "non-renewable", in order to guarantee our continued dependence on "clean and renewable" Russian and Venezuelan oil.
3. Note the dateline is Spokane, even though none of the major players are in Spokane. The article is discussing plans made by four state governments, and Spokane is not the capital of any of them. Hmmmmmmm. Wonder who the AP reporter was talking to? Wonder why the reporter was writing the article in Spokane? Can't begin to guess. Total mystery. ¶ 9:07 AM
Monday, November 14, 2011
Pointless bravado
News item:
In the first place, Obama knows that China owns us, and China knows that China owns us. In such a relationship the absolute master can afford to let the miserable slave make empty complaints. Talk is cheap.
In the second place, it's not up to China to "create a level playing field". Before 1970 we didn't need to worry about the international playing field. Plenty of cheap labor was available elsewhere, as it has always been available. But before 1970 American corporations CHOSE NOT TO USE CHEAP FOREIGN LABOR.
We've always imported some raw materials when they weren't available here, and we've always exported some products when export was advantageous to America. But primarily we built things here and paid actual money to the workers who built things here. This allowed the workers who built things here to buy things here.
The problem now is entirely within America, not within China. "American" corporations have turned into treasonous traitorous disloyal motherfucking America-hating bastards, and the Gaian Occupation Government has supinely served their treason.
China wouldn't have become a problem if "American" corporations had remained loyal to America. ¶ 2:56 AM
Using some of his toughest language yet against China, Obama - a day after face-to-face talks with President Hu Jintao - demanded that China stop "gaming" the international economic system and create a level playing field for U.S. and other foreign businesses.
In the first place, Obama knows that China owns us, and China knows that China owns us. In such a relationship the absolute master can afford to let the miserable slave make empty complaints. Talk is cheap.
In the second place, it's not up to China to "create a level playing field". Before 1970 we didn't need to worry about the international playing field. Plenty of cheap labor was available elsewhere, as it has always been available. But before 1970 American corporations CHOSE NOT TO USE CHEAP FOREIGN LABOR.
We've always imported some raw materials when they weren't available here, and we've always exported some products when export was advantageous to America. But primarily we built things here and paid actual money to the workers who built things here. This allowed the workers who built things here to buy things here.
The problem now is entirely within America, not within China. "American" corporations have turned into treasonous traitorous disloyal motherfucking America-hating bastards, and the Gaian Occupation Government has supinely served their treason.
China wouldn't have become a problem if "American" corporations had remained loyal to America. ¶ 2:56 AM
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Would be
China's QE-by-infrastructure is coming to an end, which means that prices for all sorts of commodities are dropping back to pre-bubble levels. It also means that DEMAND for commodities and 'intermediates' like refined steel and concrete is dropping back to normal levels. China is no longer buying up all the available STUFF.
If USA STRONG had a functioning government or functioning businesses, this would be a great opportunity to resume building our own infrastructure. Necessary materials are cheap and available, interest is low.
It might even be an opportunity to resume manufacturing. (Yeah, I know it's an arcane obsolete word. Look it up.)
Won't happen. USA STRONG does not have business or government. We only have STRONG.
Labels: STRONG!
¶ 3:30 PM
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Why not do it honestly?
Chris Mathews made the point that Haiti is effectively a sort of US protectorate; we've taken on the absurd, pointless and unrewarded task of helping its people through repeated disasters without ever fixing their government that leaves them hopelessly vulnerable to all those disasters.
The only time we intervened recently was to insure the "election" of Aristide, who (as a Haitian commentator stated candidly this morning) was a worse ruler than Papa Doc.
Why don't we make it an honest colony? Take it over officially, send competent people to build a real government, and get something in return. Mine its resources, build sugar cane plantations, drill in Haiti's offshore oil territory, get our cheap labor in Haiti instead of China. Do the full nine yards of old-fashioned British colonial rule. Both sides would benefit greatly. (I'll bet General Goddamn Honoré could do for Haiti what General MacArthur did for Japan.)
And if any other country complains about the arrangement, send a hundred megatons of thermonuclear discipline down their fucking Commie throat. ¶ 2:23 PM
The only time we intervened recently was to insure the "election" of Aristide, who (as a Haitian commentator stated candidly this morning) was a worse ruler than Papa Doc.
Why don't we make it an honest colony? Take it over officially, send competent people to build a real government, and get something in return. Mine its resources, build sugar cane plantations, drill in Haiti's offshore oil territory, get our cheap labor in Haiti instead of China. Do the full nine yards of old-fashioned British colonial rule. Both sides would benefit greatly. (I'll bet General Goddamn Honoré could do for Haiti what General MacArthur did for Japan.)
And if any other country complains about the arrangement, send a hundred megatons of thermonuclear discipline down their fucking Commie throat. ¶ 2:23 PM
Thursday, June 05, 2014
Soft motors, soft governments
Following immediately on the Surace dystopia. When all the carefully designed feedback mechanisms of culture and government have been ripped out or paralyzed by the Goldman virus, is there any hope? Probably not, but here's a half-formed thought.
Returning to an earlier realization, triggered rather strangely by the virtues of a cheap Chinese gadget.
= = = = = START REPRINT:
It's sort of like a junior version of a Dremel tool, but much weaker and slower. The weak motor is the key to its success, oddly enough. Just run the sander back and forth along the edge of each nail with a light touch, and it takes the nails down to a proper length and smoothness. Time 5 to 10 seconds per toe. No chance of damaging the skin; the small sander always stays on the target toe; and the weak motor stops when you dig a bit too deep. Foolproof and cootproof.
Soft motors can be an elegant solution. The old vacuum-powered windshield wipers had a similar self-limiting quality. In a light rain the wipers would wipe when there was enough rain to slide on, and would stop when (or where) the glass was dry. You couldn't burn out the motor or blow a fuse by turning the knob when the wipers were frozen. No software or interrupting timer needed; just mechanical self-regulation.
= = = = = END REPRINT.
In an electronic or mechanical system, there are two main ways to achieve self-control. Good systems generally use both methods where appropriate. One is feedback; the other is decoupling or softness. (Decoupling is less familiar than feedback. Think of a transformer or a limited-slip differential.)
The weak nail-grinder and the vacuum wipers are dumb systems. They have no CPUs, no mechanical or electric feedback. All they have is softness or weakness. But the softness serves the same purpose as intelligence or feedback. With the nail-grinder, softness prevents the grinder from damaging skin. With the wipers, softness saves the wipers from icy self-destruction and provides a "smart-like" response to rain.
Is there a way to soften or weaken the zero-feedback system of modern Western countries? A way to decouple the central money-generators and secret police from local layers? A way to interpose a high-hysteresis transformer or limited-slip drivetrain?
I don't know, but it's worth thinking about. In a historical sense, soft governments generally work better than "democratic" governments. In a "democracy", leaders compete to win the prize of power, which means the winner is the most psychopathic, most manic, most powerhungry fucking bastard in the whole country. Soft monarchies or old worn-out authoritarian regimes have a wider variety of leaders because they're selected by genes, not by fights. You get some powermad wackos but you also get some wise men and some ordinary men. Nominally they have strict rules, but practically they don't give a shit unless you seriously and actively oppose them. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a government that just plain didn't give a holy horseshit?
¶ 11:18 AM
I don't know, but it's worth thinking about. In a historical sense, soft governments generally work better than "democratic" governments. In a "democracy", leaders compete to win the prize of power, which means the winner is the most psychopathic, most manic, most powerhungry fucking bastard in the whole country. Soft monarchies or old worn-out authoritarian regimes have a wider variety of leaders because they're selected by genes, not by fights. You get some powermad wackos but you also get some wise men and some ordinary men. Nominally they have strict rules, but practically they don't give a shit unless you seriously and actively oppose them. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a government that just plain didn't give a holy horseshit?
¶ 11:18 AM
Thursday, October 18, 2018
Not a paradox
A political theorist who has obviously never met any ordinary people comes up with a truly ignorant "paradox" about "authoritarians" like Bolsonaro and Orban.
I use the World Values Survey and European Values Survey to examine the relationship between democratic discontent and the left-right political spectrum. I find that, contrary to much contemporary commentary, hostility to democracy is strongest not at the political extremes, but in the center. Respondents at the center of the political spectrum are the least supportive of democracy, least committed to its institutions, and most supportive of authoritarianism. I refer to this surprising finding as the ‘centrist paradox.’No, it's not a paradox. Ordinary non-extreme people want to LIVE AND WORK. When a "democratic" government brings in cheap foreign labor to disemploy you, and brings in criminal gangs of migrants to kill you, and neuters the police so criminals can rob you, you are NOT LIVING and NOT WORKING. Ordinary people get unhappy when they are not allowed to LIVE AND WORK. They understand ACCURATELY that it takes a FORCEFUL leader to fight against the corporations and NGOs and bankers who are KILLING us. The "extremes" aren't nearly as interested in living and working, because (at least in Sorosian lands) the "extremes" are organized and funded by Deepstate. This isn't new. In the 1850s NYC industrialists funded and organized the abolitionists. In the 1960s CIA was running both the hippies and the Birchers. In modern times CIA is running both the alt-right and the Antifa. Those "extremes" don't want a new system of government because they're EMPLOYEES of the existing Deepstate. There. No paradox at all.
Labels: Answered better than asked, Sorosia
¶ 5:06 PM
Saturday, May 12, 2018
New kamikaze, new VX
ZH supplies the usual AI disaster porn with the latest fighting robot from Boston Dynamics. One fact I hadn't heard before: Google sold the company to Softbank, Japan's equivalent of Google. So the robo-warrior is the new kamikaze.**
The commenters hit the usual subject hard, but one commenter gets relevant: Just break the lithium ion battery and the robo-warrior burns up.
In fact it's easier than that. A strong magnetic field, tuned properly, will incapacitate the robo-warrior without bothering human warriors. No bullets needed, no precision encrypted wifi hacks needed. Just tune for seizure.
A magnetic field is thus the AI equivalent of poison gas. RF is the new VX. So we can expect a prohibition on all devices that can possibly be reworked to generate a strong field. Any country that possesses radio transmitters or microwave ovens or transistors or tubes or copper wire is "authoritarian" and "malign behavior". All options on the table.
Self-defense is prohibited.
= = = = =
**The kamikaze analogy doesn't work well because these robots are EXPENSIVE. Kamikazes, like all conscripted cannon fodder, are cheap. A draftee is designed and programmed by God at no cost to the government, and built by parents at no cost to the government. Cannon fodder requires a few weeks of basic training and feeding, and then it's off to the slaughter. No amortization, just mortization.
Later, I had a "bright" idea. What if we force governments to pay for the design and construction of soldiers? Pay God's contractors, churches, for the design, and pay parents for the manufacture. Terrible idea! Cancel immediately! Result would be an auction. Churches and parents would compete to program and build the most ferocious and obedient kamikazes.
Labels: malign misattribution, modest and stupid proposal
¶ 7:20 AM
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Polistra's dream, 4
Part 4 of Polistra's Dream.
Read Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3 first.
Ponca, June 1939.
Fran and Polistra are leaving the Arcade and driving to the lake.......
Polistra: Model T!
Fran: Yup, lots of T's still chugging along. Nowadays they're just an obstacle. Can't go faster than 40, and burn more oil than gas.
Pol: I've been thinking about Henry Ford lately. He didn't invent the car, of course, but he did invent one big idea that America has forgotten in 2008.
Fran: Mass production?
Pol: Well, he brought that to perfection, but really Henry's most important idea, the one we've forgotten in my time, is self-sufficiency.
Fran: Hmm? You'll have to explain that.
Pol: I expect it's so natural to you that it doesn't even seem like a concept. Henry Ford decided to pay his workers a living wage so that they could buy his cars, and buy other things. When the workers came from southern poverty, he trained their wives to be good housekeepers and helped educate their kids, so that their families could move up out of poverty and behave like good modern citizens. He also made sure that his company could produce everything it needed, from the raw iron for engines, to the trees for the wood bodies, to the cows for the leather seats, all the way through to the fully manufactured car. Keeping everything within the family, so to speak. That's what started America toward prosperity.
Fran: Come to think of it, that's how Mr Marland operated too. I was probably a little too hard on him the other day when I held him up as an example of ostentatious rich men. Compared to Mr Wentz he's --- I guess you'd say he's not public-minded. But Mr Marland did a lot for his employees, in the same way that Ford did. He paid them better than anyone else for the same skills, and gave them good working conditions, food and recreation. What made Ponca so prosperous and beautiful was not just the mansions he built for his own pleasure, but the houses that his refinery workers were able to buy, and the clothes that their wives could buy, and then the stores to supply the wives, and on down the line.
Pol: That whole idea has been lost. Some companies still pay well, but the self-sufficiency, the closed circle, is long gone. In the name of "freedom", department stores have been allowed to buy the cheapest possible stuff from poor countries, which puts American factories out of business. Many companies hire illegal immigrants....
Fran: Wetbacks?
Pol: Yes, wetbacks. We're not allowed to say that word. And workers smuggled in from Oriental countries. They're pretty nearly slaves, but the government winks and nods to satisfy the robber barons. An illegal immigrant can't complain about low wages and bad conditions. Worst of all, cheap phone service and cheap shipping by airplane has made it possible to run entire factories in dictatorial countries like China and Burma, where the employees are sometimes literally slaves.
Fran: Oh dear. And we went through all that trouble in Lincoln's War, all that destruction of lives and land, supposedly to end slavery. To eliminate the temptation to use unpaid labor. Pretty slick trick, I must say. Can't have slaves here, so let businessmen keep slaves outside the country. Yes, I can see why you had to get out of there. Or out of then, as the case may be.
Pol: As you say, it's a natural temptation. Businesses always want to lower their costs and increase their profits. We made it entirely too easy to use other countries where costs are lower, which means that entirely too much money is going elsewhere instead of going to American workers or other American businesses.
Fran: But what happened to Henry's big idea? I mean, it's a valid idea, so breaking the circle must lead to bankruptcy? Or did some kind of magic change prevent it?
Pol: No magic. We're heading straight down to bankruptcy. The big companies don't care, because they're so completely scattered among various nations that their American operations have become albatrosses. Magic is a good word, though. Plenty of "smoke and mirrors" to distract the people, and even to distract executives who might have known better if they'd stopped to think. Everyone was focused on stock prices, and companies decided that their single solitary goal was to increase their stock price. They stopped issuing dividends, so there wasn't even a visible measurement of real profit. Companies did whatever it took to increase the stock price, which distracted them from the more basic parts of business. They didn't care if money circulated within America to make Americans more prosperous, as long as the almighty share price kept going up and up and up.
Sorry, I got carried away.
Fran: I understand. Helps to talk about it. Not that I can do anything to stop it, since we're just inside a cartoon here.
Fran: That's Jimmy, my newsboy. Hey Jimmy! You look sort of down in the mouth. What's wrong?
Jimmy: Hi, Miss Fran. Yes ma'am. I built this fine little soapbox car but I'm not having much fun with it. I pull and pull and pull, and then I never get a chance to sit and coast.
Fran: Yeah, this part of town is flat all right. Meet my friend Polistra, who's visiting for a while.
Jimmy: Hello, Miss Lister. Glad to meet you, ma'am.
Pol: Say, I've got an idea. Let me get out of the car ...
Pol: Self-sufficiency!
Jimmy: Wheeeee!
= = = = =
Continued in Part 5 here.
Read Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3 first.
Ponca, June 1939.
Fran and Polistra are leaving the Arcade and driving to the lake.......
Polistra: Model T!
Fran: Yup, lots of T's still chugging along. Nowadays they're just an obstacle. Can't go faster than 40, and burn more oil than gas.
Pol: I've been thinking about Henry Ford lately. He didn't invent the car, of course, but he did invent one big idea that America has forgotten in 2008.
Fran: Mass production?
Pol: Well, he brought that to perfection, but really Henry's most important idea, the one we've forgotten in my time, is self-sufficiency.
Fran: Hmm? You'll have to explain that.
Pol: I expect it's so natural to you that it doesn't even seem like a concept. Henry Ford decided to pay his workers a living wage so that they could buy his cars, and buy other things. When the workers came from southern poverty, he trained their wives to be good housekeepers and helped educate their kids, so that their families could move up out of poverty and behave like good modern citizens. He also made sure that his company could produce everything it needed, from the raw iron for engines, to the trees for the wood bodies, to the cows for the leather seats, all the way through to the fully manufactured car. Keeping everything within the family, so to speak. That's what started America toward prosperity.
Fran: Come to think of it, that's how Mr Marland operated too. I was probably a little too hard on him the other day when I held him up as an example of ostentatious rich men. Compared to Mr Wentz he's --- I guess you'd say he's not public-minded. But Mr Marland did a lot for his employees, in the same way that Ford did. He paid them better than anyone else for the same skills, and gave them good working conditions, food and recreation. What made Ponca so prosperous and beautiful was not just the mansions he built for his own pleasure, but the houses that his refinery workers were able to buy, and the clothes that their wives could buy, and then the stores to supply the wives, and on down the line.
Pol: That whole idea has been lost. Some companies still pay well, but the self-sufficiency, the closed circle, is long gone. In the name of "freedom", department stores have been allowed to buy the cheapest possible stuff from poor countries, which puts American factories out of business. Many companies hire illegal immigrants....
Fran: Wetbacks?
Pol: Yes, wetbacks. We're not allowed to say that word. And workers smuggled in from Oriental countries. They're pretty nearly slaves, but the government winks and nods to satisfy the robber barons. An illegal immigrant can't complain about low wages and bad conditions. Worst of all, cheap phone service and cheap shipping by airplane has made it possible to run entire factories in dictatorial countries like China and Burma, where the employees are sometimes literally slaves.
Fran: Oh dear. And we went through all that trouble in Lincoln's War, all that destruction of lives and land, supposedly to end slavery. To eliminate the temptation to use unpaid labor. Pretty slick trick, I must say. Can't have slaves here, so let businessmen keep slaves outside the country. Yes, I can see why you had to get out of there. Or out of then, as the case may be.
Pol: As you say, it's a natural temptation. Businesses always want to lower their costs and increase their profits. We made it entirely too easy to use other countries where costs are lower, which means that entirely too much money is going elsewhere instead of going to American workers or other American businesses.
Fran: But what happened to Henry's big idea? I mean, it's a valid idea, so breaking the circle must lead to bankruptcy? Or did some kind of magic change prevent it?
Pol: No magic. We're heading straight down to bankruptcy. The big companies don't care, because they're so completely scattered among various nations that their American operations have become albatrosses. Magic is a good word, though. Plenty of "smoke and mirrors" to distract the people, and even to distract executives who might have known better if they'd stopped to think. Everyone was focused on stock prices, and companies decided that their single solitary goal was to increase their stock price. They stopped issuing dividends, so there wasn't even a visible measurement of real profit. Companies did whatever it took to increase the stock price, which distracted them from the more basic parts of business. They didn't care if money circulated within America to make Americans more prosperous, as long as the almighty share price kept going up and up and up.
Sorry, I got carried away.
Fran: I understand. Helps to talk about it. Not that I can do anything to stop it, since we're just inside a cartoon here.
Fran: That's Jimmy, my newsboy. Hey Jimmy! You look sort of down in the mouth. What's wrong?
Jimmy: Hi, Miss Fran. Yes ma'am. I built this fine little soapbox car but I'm not having much fun with it. I pull and pull and pull, and then I never get a chance to sit and coast.
Fran: Yeah, this part of town is flat all right. Meet my friend Polistra, who's visiting for a while.
Jimmy: Hello, Miss Lister. Glad to meet you, ma'am.
Pol: Say, I've got an idea. Let me get out of the car ...
Pol: Self-sufficiency!
Jimmy: Wheeeee!
= = = = =
Continued in Part 5 here.
Labels: the broken circle
¶ 11:05 PM
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
O ye innocents.
Listening to On Point about the proliferation of tiny drone aircraft. One caller said the usual sort of thing: "We The People need to stand up and say Enough Is Enough! We The People need to hold the government accountable! Constitution etc, Laws etc, Morality, etc." You can fill in the etc's, because you've heard the same naive crap as many times as I have.
Okay, fine. Stand up and shout. Assert your "constitutional" "rights". Hold The Government Accountable. Recite some laws and bible verses and Hayek quotes and Rothbard quotes and Rand quotes at full volume.
A little housefly-sized drone will fly down your throat and take up residence in your lungs, where it will hear everything you say, awake or asleep. The technology may not be quite ready today, but don't bet against next month.
The real question is not how much the authorities know. The Feds will always know absolutely everything they are able to know with current technology. The NSA has always monitored all available radio, telephone, and Internet communication. Information is cheap, so it's not the limiting factor, not the homeostatic variable.
The self-limiting factor is Parkinson's Law. What is the single sole solitary goal of every bureaucracy? To increase its budget and size every year. And what's the biggest danger to an increased budget? Accomplishing your stated mission. Thus no bureaucracy will ever accomplish more than a small part of its assigned mission, because that will destroy its real purpose.
DEA claims that it wants to eradicate drug usage. Yet it never happens, "despite" huge budgets. Eradicating drug usage would eradicate DEA, so it can't be allowed to happen.
That's why we're partially safe on average, despite total knowledge and total surveillance. Each agency will liquidate some of us each year to satisfy its particular blood-fetish, but it won't take everyone; it will always leave a 'starter culture' in each situation to guarantee regrowth of its favorite target.
= = = = =
Sidenote: Current discussion assumes that drones are a fairly new thing. The super-mini versions are new, but remote-controlled aircraft are very old. For instance, this 1946 Fibber episode is about a military experimental craft that needs no pilot. (When Fibber's writers included a gadget or scientific idea, they were sure it was common knowledge. They weren't trying to do sci-fi!) A few years before, the Krauts developed a guided missile with TV camera in its tip, capable of being controlled to any visible destination. Fortunately for Britain, the Krauts were defeated before they could mass-produce the device. ¶ 9:34 AM
Okay, fine. Stand up and shout. Assert your "constitutional" "rights". Hold The Government Accountable. Recite some laws and bible verses and Hayek quotes and Rothbard quotes and Rand quotes at full volume.
A little housefly-sized drone will fly down your throat and take up residence in your lungs, where it will hear everything you say, awake or asleep. The technology may not be quite ready today, but don't bet against next month.
The real question is not how much the authorities know. The Feds will always know absolutely everything they are able to know with current technology. The NSA has always monitored all available radio, telephone, and Internet communication. Information is cheap, so it's not the limiting factor, not the homeostatic variable.
The self-limiting factor is Parkinson's Law. What is the single sole solitary goal of every bureaucracy? To increase its budget and size every year. And what's the biggest danger to an increased budget? Accomplishing your stated mission. Thus no bureaucracy will ever accomplish more than a small part of its assigned mission, because that will destroy its real purpose.
DEA claims that it wants to eradicate drug usage. Yet it never happens, "despite" huge budgets. Eradicating drug usage would eradicate DEA, so it can't be allowed to happen.
That's why we're partially safe on average, despite total knowledge and total surveillance. Each agency will liquidate some of us each year to satisfy its particular blood-fetish, but it won't take everyone; it will always leave a 'starter culture' in each situation to guarantee regrowth of its favorite target.
= = = = =
Sidenote: Current discussion assumes that drones are a fairly new thing. The super-mini versions are new, but remote-controlled aircraft are very old. For instance, this 1946 Fibber episode is about a military experimental craft that needs no pilot. (When Fibber's writers included a gadget or scientific idea, they were sure it was common knowledge. They weren't trying to do sci-fi!) A few years before, the Krauts developed a guided missile with TV camera in its tip, capable of being controlled to any visible destination. Fortunately for Britain, the Krauts were defeated before they could mass-produce the device. ¶ 9:34 AM
Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Globalism = digitalism, extended
Yesterday's entry about Natural Law and TRUE/FALSE ties in with an earlier and broader thought on Globalism and Digitalism.
= = = = = START REPRINT:
Localism needs modular analog systems, so localists develop modular analog systems.
Globalism needs centralized digital systems, so globalists develop centralized digital systems.
= = = = =
Globalists love systems that DIGITALIZE a naturally analog process, because these processes allow a small entity to gain control without using energy.
How do you digitalize a smooth input?
In mechanical or neural or electronic arrangements, you need a SNAPPER. The device must sense when the input reaches a THRESHOLD, and abruptly SNAP the output to the opposite position.
A simple switch shows the principle. Happystar is moving the lever smoothly, and when the lever hits the contact point the current flows to the meter and lights. When he pulls the switch back, current stops flowing as soon as the lever leaves the contact point.
In more modern systems, switching is done by an amplifier or valve with 'too much' gain. (See Pluponents.)
An amplifier is like a valve. The input is turning the faucet up and down, which takes very little strength; the valve controls a large flow of water or current, with much more strength in the resulting pushes.
One way of getting a switch-like response is to increase the gain or LEVERAGE, so that the output flow quickly reaches its positive and negative limits, and spends very little time between the limits.
A digital stage is efficient in a certain sense, because it spends very little time in ambiguity. For a transistor or a human, ambiguity takes more effort. We can quantify this fact for the transistor or valve.
When the valve is OFF, there's no flow, so no power.
When the valve is FULLY ON, there's plenty of flow but no turbulence or friction, so no power is used up.
In between, you have non-zero flow with non-zero friction, so more power is wasted.
We can't figure watts for a human, but experience tells us that the same principle applies. When you are totally committed to a mission or a job, all of your mental energy goes into the mission. When you are not doing a task at all, no energy is wasted on the task. It's the midrange that leads to burnout. When you're supposed to carry out a task but you've lost the belief that it's worth doing, you're exhausted by the turbulence and friction of doubt.
= = = = =
Globalists want each person and each country to be totally committed to a single task for maximum efficiency. If your task is supplying oil to the empire, supplying oil is the ONLY thing you can think about. If your task is building smartphones, building smartphones is the ONLY thing you can think about. You can't doubt your SINGLE purpose in life.
Graybill's Law.
= = = = =
In complex human systems like corporations and banks and governments, LEVERAGE is accomplished by rules and habits. Instead of a contact point, the government tells itself to make a decision at a specific setting of the input variable. The action is now software, not hardware. Laws are full of such decision points. Majority voting, guilty/not guilty jury decisions, the all-or-nothing electoral college, omnibus bills with poison pills, tax brackets. In each case the lever is moved by a small force, and a large flow of power turns on SHARPLY at the threshold point.
From the viewpoint of a ruling tribe, the big advantage of digital software is the LEVERAGE, the HIGH GAIN of this oversaturated amplifier. Small power turns the valve, and the valve opens an infinite flow of money or military power.
Software leverage works only when people believe that it works. This means that the small entity must FIRST acquire the tools to impose belief... as the entity under discussion unquestionably did. (Hollywood, TV, publishing.)
After the whole system is switched to software, physical reality is no longer relevant. No limits, no material inputs, no labor, no humans. QE, derivatives, infinite leverage.
= = = = =
Modularity is also a crucial part of an analog system. Nature REQUIRES it in complicated systems. Look at an old radio circuit:
Each stage pulls power from the same source and does its own thing. Some amplify, some detect, some filter. Only processed signal is transferred between stages. Transformers insure that no direct current can pull each stage out of its preferred operating conditions.
Now look at an old national circuit from the same decade:
An earlier less toxic form of globalism. Each module pulls power from sun and rain and does its own thing. Some grow wheat, some grow cattle, some cut logs, some mine iron, some turn the logs and iron into machines. Only processed product is transferred between stages. Borders insure that no direct migration can pull each stage out of its preferred operating conditions.
= = = = =
Modern globalism doesn't allow modules for the same reason that it doesn't allow analog responses. If each nation or city can make its own decisions, the ruling tribe has no LEVERAGE. With a single-knob control for the entire world, all decisions by the ruling tribe can be propagated instantly everywhere. See Libor, WTO, EU, fractional-reserve banking.
Modern "nations" are thus built without transformers. All coupling is OPEN to DC and AC of all frequencies. You can't protect your own manufacturers by halting the import of manufactured products or cheap labor. You can't protect your own farmers by halting cheap produce. You can't protect your own people by halting the import of criminal migrants. You can't protect the culture of your own tribe from the media force of the ruling tribe.
The non-human parts of Nature won't let you design a physical system this way.
We have been FOOLED into thinking that human nature will let us do it. Clearly it doesn't work. An amplifier that receives 200 volts DC along with the 0.2 volt AC signal will burn out. A nation that receives 200,000 criminal migrants along with 2 useful migrants will burn out.
= = = = =
How do we return to analog control and modular organization? As mentioned before, we need to start by recognizing the situation.
Genes exist. Ethnic groups are different. Modularity requires at least some division by ethnicity. Digitalized legal systems make it too easy for one tribe to control everything with little expenditure of energy. Analog legal systems, based on quantified recompense and revenge, provide a NEGATIVE FEEDBACK LOOP which gives more control to the non-rulers.
= = = = = END REPRINT.
In that piece I was talking about the enforcement of decision points but I hadn't yet seen that the simple concept of TRUE/FALSE is anti-natural. Now I see it.
Analog legal systems are based on a Natural Law understanding that you can't reach justice through digital TRUE/FALSE. You have to apply a restorative negative feedback to bring the situation back to equilibrium. Often the restoration leaves the disruptor technically "unjudged", but the important goal is the equilibrium, NOT the technical statement of guilt.
A simple switch shows the principle. Happystar is moving the lever smoothly, and when the lever hits the contact point the current flows to the meter and lights. When he pulls the switch back, current stops flowing as soon as the lever leaves the contact point.
In more modern systems, switching is done by an amplifier or valve with 'too much' gain. (See Pluponents.)
An amplifier is like a valve. The input is turning the faucet up and down, which takes very little strength; the valve controls a large flow of water or current, with much more strength in the resulting pushes.
One way of getting a switch-like response is to increase the gain or LEVERAGE, so that the output flow quickly reaches its positive and negative limits, and spends very little time between the limits.
A digital stage is efficient in a certain sense, because it spends very little time in ambiguity. For a transistor or a human, ambiguity takes more effort. We can quantify this fact for the transistor or valve.
When the valve is OFF, there's no flow, so no power.
When the valve is FULLY ON, there's plenty of flow but no turbulence or friction, so no power is used up.
In between, you have non-zero flow with non-zero friction, so more power is wasted.
We can't figure watts for a human, but experience tells us that the same principle applies. When you are totally committed to a mission or a job, all of your mental energy goes into the mission. When you are not doing a task at all, no energy is wasted on the task. It's the midrange that leads to burnout. When you're supposed to carry out a task but you've lost the belief that it's worth doing, you're exhausted by the turbulence and friction of doubt.
= = = = =
Globalists want each person and each country to be totally committed to a single task for maximum efficiency. If your task is supplying oil to the empire, supplying oil is the ONLY thing you can think about. If your task is building smartphones, building smartphones is the ONLY thing you can think about. You can't doubt your SINGLE purpose in life.
Graybill's Law.
= = = = =
In complex human systems like corporations and banks and governments, LEVERAGE is accomplished by rules and habits. Instead of a contact point, the government tells itself to make a decision at a specific setting of the input variable. The action is now software, not hardware. Laws are full of such decision points. Majority voting, guilty/not guilty jury decisions, the all-or-nothing electoral college, omnibus bills with poison pills, tax brackets. In each case the lever is moved by a small force, and a large flow of power turns on SHARPLY at the threshold point.
From the viewpoint of a ruling tribe, the big advantage of digital software is the LEVERAGE, the HIGH GAIN of this oversaturated amplifier. Small power turns the valve, and the valve opens an infinite flow of money or military power.
Software leverage works only when people believe that it works. This means that the small entity must FIRST acquire the tools to impose belief... as the entity under discussion unquestionably did. (Hollywood, TV, publishing.)
After the whole system is switched to software, physical reality is no longer relevant. No limits, no material inputs, no labor, no humans. QE, derivatives, infinite leverage.
= = = = =
Modularity is also a crucial part of an analog system. Nature REQUIRES it in complicated systems. Look at an old radio circuit:
Each stage pulls power from the same source and does its own thing. Some amplify, some detect, some filter. Only processed signal is transferred between stages. Transformers insure that no direct current can pull each stage out of its preferred operating conditions.
Now look at an old national circuit from the same decade:
An earlier less toxic form of globalism. Each module pulls power from sun and rain and does its own thing. Some grow wheat, some grow cattle, some cut logs, some mine iron, some turn the logs and iron into machines. Only processed product is transferred between stages. Borders insure that no direct migration can pull each stage out of its preferred operating conditions.
= = = = =
Modern globalism doesn't allow modules for the same reason that it doesn't allow analog responses. If each nation or city can make its own decisions, the ruling tribe has no LEVERAGE. With a single-knob control for the entire world, all decisions by the ruling tribe can be propagated instantly everywhere. See Libor, WTO, EU, fractional-reserve banking.
Modern "nations" are thus built without transformers. All coupling is OPEN to DC and AC of all frequencies. You can't protect your own manufacturers by halting the import of manufactured products or cheap labor. You can't protect your own farmers by halting cheap produce. You can't protect your own people by halting the import of criminal migrants. You can't protect the culture of your own tribe from the media force of the ruling tribe.
The non-human parts of Nature won't let you design a physical system this way.
We have been FOOLED into thinking that human nature will let us do it. Clearly it doesn't work. An amplifier that receives 200 volts DC along with the 0.2 volt AC signal will burn out. A nation that receives 200,000 criminal migrants along with 2 useful migrants will burn out.
= = = = =
How do we return to analog control and modular organization? As mentioned before, we need to start by recognizing the situation.
Genes exist. Ethnic groups are different. Modularity requires at least some division by ethnicity. Digitalized legal systems make it too easy for one tribe to control everything with little expenditure of energy. Analog legal systems, based on quantified recompense and revenge, provide a NEGATIVE FEEDBACK LOOP which gives more control to the non-rulers.
= = = = = END REPRINT.
In that piece I was talking about the enforcement of decision points but I hadn't yet seen that the simple concept of TRUE/FALSE is anti-natural. Now I see it.
Analog legal systems are based on a Natural Law understanding that you can't reach justice through digital TRUE/FALSE. You have to apply a restorative negative feedback to bring the situation back to equilibrium. Often the restoration leaves the disruptor technically "unjudged", but the important goal is the equilibrium, NOT the technical statement of guilt.Labels: Emersonian justice, Natural law = Sharia law, Pluponents
¶ 12:49 AM
Friday, March 24, 2017
Globalist = digitalist
Previous item led to a Big Idea. Or at least it seems big to the ragged remnant of my sleep-deprived winter-weary mind.
Basic point:
Localism needs modular analog systems, so localists develop modular analog systems.
Globalism needs centralized digital systems, so globalists develop centralized digital systems.
= = = = =
Globalists love systems that DIGITALIZE a naturally analog process, because these processes allow a small entity to gain control without using energy.
How do you digitalize a smooth input?
In mechanical or neural or electronic arrangements, you need a SNAPPER. The device must sense when the input reaches a THRESHOLD, and abruptly SNAP the output to the opposite position.
A simple switch shows the principle. Happystar is moving the lever smoothly, and when the lever hits the contact point the current flows to the meter and lights. When he pulls the switch back, current stops flowing as soon as the lever leaves the contact point.
In more modern systems, switching is done by an amplifier or valve with 'too much' gain.
An amplifier is like a valve. The input is turning the faucet up and down, which takes very little strength; the valve controls a large flow of water or current, with much more strength in the resulting pushes.
One way of getting a switch-like response is to increase the gain or LEVERAGE, so that the output flow quickly reaches its positive and negative limits, and spends very little time between the limits.
A digital stage is efficient in a certain sense, because it spends very little time in ambiguity. For a transistor or a human, ambiguity takes more effort. We can quantify this fact for the transistor or valve.
When the valve is OFF, there's no flow, so no power.
When the valve is FULLY ON, there's plenty of flow but no turbulence or friction, so no power is used up.
In between, you have non-zero flow with non-zero friction, so more power is wasted.
We can't figure watts for a human, but experience tells us that the same principle applies. When you are totally committed to a mission or a job, all of your mental energy goes into the mission. When you are not doing a task at all, no energy is wasted on the task. It's the midrange that leads to burnout. When you're supposed to carry out a task but you've lost the belief that it's worth doing, you're exhausted by the turbulence and friction of doubt.
= = = = =
Globalists want each person and each country to be totally committed to a single task for maximum efficiency. If your task is supplying oil to the empire, supplying oil is the ONLY thing you can think about. If your task is building smartphones, building smartphones is the ONLY thing you can think about. You can't doubt your SINGLE purpose in life.
Graybill's Law.
= = = = =
In complex human systems like corporations and banks and governments, LEVERAGE is accomplished by rules and habits. Instead of a contact point, the government tells itself to make a decision at a specific setting of the input variable. The action is now software, not hardware. Laws are full of such decision points. Majority voting, guilty/not guilty jury decisions, the all-or-nothing electoral college, omnibus bills with poison pills, tax brackets. In each case the lever is moved by a small force, and a large flow of power turns on SHARPLY at the threshold point.
From the viewpoint of a ruling tribe, the big advantage of digital software is the LEVERAGE, the HIGH GAIN of this oversaturated amplifier. Small power turns the valve, and the valve opens an infinite flow of money or military power.
Software leverage works only when people believe that it works. This means that the small entity must FIRST acquire the tools to impose belief... as the entity under discussion unquestionably did. (Hollywood, TV, publishing.)
After the whole system is switched to software, physical reality is no longer relevant. No limits, no material inputs, no labor, no humans. QE, derivatives, infinite leverage.
= = = = =
Modularity is also a crucial part of an analog system. Nature REQUIRES it in complicated systems. Look at an old radio circuit:
Each stage pulls power from the same source and does its own thing. Some amplify, some detect, some filter. Only processed signal is transferred between stages. Transformers insure that no direct current can pull each stage out of its preferred operating conditions.
Now look at an old national circuit from the same decade:
An earlier less toxic form of globalism. Each module pulls power from sun and rain and does its own thing. Some grow wheat, some grow cattle, some cut logs, some mine iron, some turn the logs and iron into machines. Only processed product is transferred between stages. Borders insure that no direct migration can pull each stage out of its preferred operating conditions.
= = = = =
Modern globalism doesn't allow modules for the same reason that it doesn't allow analog responses. If each nation or city can make its own decisions, the ruling tribe has no LEVERAGE. With a single-knob control for the entire world, all decisions by the ruling tribe can be propagated instantly everywhere. See Libor, WTO, EU, fractional-reserve banking.
Modern "nations" are thus built without transformers. All coupling is OPEN to DC and AC of all frequencies. You can't protect your own manufacturers by halting the import of manufactured products or cheap labor. You can't protect your own farmers by halting cheap produce. You can't protect your own people by halting the import of criminal migrants. You can't protect the culture of your own tribe from the media force of the ruling tribe.
The non-human parts of Nature won't let you design a physical system this way.
We have been FOOLED into thinking that human nature will let us do it. Clearly it doesn't work. An amplifier that receives 200 volts DC along with the 0.2 volt AC signal will burn out. A nation that receives 200,000 criminal migrants along with 2 useful migrants will burn out.
= = = = =
How do we return to analog control and modular organization? As mentioned before, we need to start by recognizing the situation.
Genes exist. Ethnic groups are different. Modularity requires at least some division by ethnicity. Digitalized legal systems make it too easy for one tribe to control everything with little expenditure of energy. Analog legal systems, based on quantified recompense and revenge, provide a NEGATIVE FEEDBACK LOOP which gives more control to the non-rulers.
A simple switch shows the principle. Happystar is moving the lever smoothly, and when the lever hits the contact point the current flows to the meter and lights. When he pulls the switch back, current stops flowing as soon as the lever leaves the contact point.
In more modern systems, switching is done by an amplifier or valve with 'too much' gain.
An amplifier is like a valve. The input is turning the faucet up and down, which takes very little strength; the valve controls a large flow of water or current, with much more strength in the resulting pushes.
One way of getting a switch-like response is to increase the gain or LEVERAGE, so that the output flow quickly reaches its positive and negative limits, and spends very little time between the limits.
A digital stage is efficient in a certain sense, because it spends very little time in ambiguity. For a transistor or a human, ambiguity takes more effort. We can quantify this fact for the transistor or valve.
When the valve is OFF, there's no flow, so no power.
When the valve is FULLY ON, there's plenty of flow but no turbulence or friction, so no power is used up.
In between, you have non-zero flow with non-zero friction, so more power is wasted.
We can't figure watts for a human, but experience tells us that the same principle applies. When you are totally committed to a mission or a job, all of your mental energy goes into the mission. When you are not doing a task at all, no energy is wasted on the task. It's the midrange that leads to burnout. When you're supposed to carry out a task but you've lost the belief that it's worth doing, you're exhausted by the turbulence and friction of doubt.
= = = = =
Globalists want each person and each country to be totally committed to a single task for maximum efficiency. If your task is supplying oil to the empire, supplying oil is the ONLY thing you can think about. If your task is building smartphones, building smartphones is the ONLY thing you can think about. You can't doubt your SINGLE purpose in life.
Graybill's Law.
= = = = =
In complex human systems like corporations and banks and governments, LEVERAGE is accomplished by rules and habits. Instead of a contact point, the government tells itself to make a decision at a specific setting of the input variable. The action is now software, not hardware. Laws are full of such decision points. Majority voting, guilty/not guilty jury decisions, the all-or-nothing electoral college, omnibus bills with poison pills, tax brackets. In each case the lever is moved by a small force, and a large flow of power turns on SHARPLY at the threshold point.
From the viewpoint of a ruling tribe, the big advantage of digital software is the LEVERAGE, the HIGH GAIN of this oversaturated amplifier. Small power turns the valve, and the valve opens an infinite flow of money or military power.
Software leverage works only when people believe that it works. This means that the small entity must FIRST acquire the tools to impose belief... as the entity under discussion unquestionably did. (Hollywood, TV, publishing.)
After the whole system is switched to software, physical reality is no longer relevant. No limits, no material inputs, no labor, no humans. QE, derivatives, infinite leverage.
= = = = =
Modularity is also a crucial part of an analog system. Nature REQUIRES it in complicated systems. Look at an old radio circuit:
Each stage pulls power from the same source and does its own thing. Some amplify, some detect, some filter. Only processed signal is transferred between stages. Transformers insure that no direct current can pull each stage out of its preferred operating conditions.
Now look at an old national circuit from the same decade:
An earlier less toxic form of globalism. Each module pulls power from sun and rain and does its own thing. Some grow wheat, some grow cattle, some cut logs, some mine iron, some turn the logs and iron into machines. Only processed product is transferred between stages. Borders insure that no direct migration can pull each stage out of its preferred operating conditions.
= = = = =
Modern globalism doesn't allow modules for the same reason that it doesn't allow analog responses. If each nation or city can make its own decisions, the ruling tribe has no LEVERAGE. With a single-knob control for the entire world, all decisions by the ruling tribe can be propagated instantly everywhere. See Libor, WTO, EU, fractional-reserve banking.
Modern "nations" are thus built without transformers. All coupling is OPEN to DC and AC of all frequencies. You can't protect your own manufacturers by halting the import of manufactured products or cheap labor. You can't protect your own farmers by halting cheap produce. You can't protect your own people by halting the import of criminal migrants. You can't protect the culture of your own tribe from the media force of the ruling tribe.
The non-human parts of Nature won't let you design a physical system this way.
We have been FOOLED into thinking that human nature will let us do it. Clearly it doesn't work. An amplifier that receives 200 volts DC along with the 0.2 volt AC signal will burn out. A nation that receives 200,000 criminal migrants along with 2 useful migrants will burn out.
= = = = =
How do we return to analog control and modular organization? As mentioned before, we need to start by recognizing the situation.
Genes exist. Ethnic groups are different. Modularity requires at least some division by ethnicity. Digitalized legal systems make it too easy for one tribe to control everything with little expenditure of energy. Analog legal systems, based on quantified recompense and revenge, provide a NEGATIVE FEEDBACK LOOP which gives more control to the non-rulers.Labels: #DeplorableLivesMatter, Natural law = Sharia law, skill-estate
¶ 4:00 AM
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Extremely important point
From the Euro writer Fjordman:
In America the immigration problem, though equally symptomatic of feral capitalism, doesn't involve Arabs or Mohammedans to any great extent.
Our problem is more direct: We have made Arabia so rich that Arabia is quickly buying us out. Worst of all, Arabia is buying influence in universities and buying partial control of media. Our "conservative" media and commentators follow Sultan Bush down the line. They never criticize Arabia, never connect the perfectly obvious dots between the governments on the Arabian peninsula and the "tiny minority of extremist folks" who started this war. We are stuck with a completely misdirected war, a never-ending expenditure of money and lives toward a completely pointless and completely futile goal.
It's hard to draw a WW2 equivalent, because stupidity and corruption, though obviously part of the permanent human condition, were not in total control of our government back then. I'll try anyway: Imagine millions of American soldiers dying in Ethiopia to remove it from Italian control and turn it toward democracy, while Japan bombs and marches through California, Oregon and Washington unopposed. ¶ 9:23 AM
Is capitalism always a force for freedom? It is easy for “conservatives” to think so, but is it always true?
...
I am particularly concerned over the recent attempts by various Western corporations to appease Islamic demands for sharia censorship. Both regarding the Danish cartoons and the Wilders movie in Holland, business interests have been among the most prominent in denouncing these attempts to defend Western freedoms because they care only about their market shares and not about the wider issues.
When we also know that many companies support mass immigration because they want easy access to cheap labor, including Muslim immigration, this means that they contribute to Islamization, at home and abroad. Can we then say that capitalism is always a force for freedom? I think not. As Thomas Jefferson said, “Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.”
In America the immigration problem, though equally symptomatic of feral capitalism, doesn't involve Arabs or Mohammedans to any great extent.
Our problem is more direct: We have made Arabia so rich that Arabia is quickly buying us out. Worst of all, Arabia is buying influence in universities and buying partial control of media. Our "conservative" media and commentators follow Sultan Bush down the line. They never criticize Arabia, never connect the perfectly obvious dots between the governments on the Arabian peninsula and the "tiny minority of extremist folks" who started this war. We are stuck with a completely misdirected war, a never-ending expenditure of money and lives toward a completely pointless and completely futile goal.
It's hard to draw a WW2 equivalent, because stupidity and corruption, though obviously part of the permanent human condition, were not in total control of our government back then. I'll try anyway: Imagine millions of American soldiers dying in Ethiopia to remove it from Italian control and turn it toward democracy, while Japan bombs and marches through California, Oregon and Washington unopposed. ¶ 9:23 AM
Thursday, June 14, 2018
What would Roosevelt do?
As always, the real question is not what WOULD but what DID. FDR faced the same problems we face now, and he handled them correctly. We do the opposite every fucking time.
Someone in the Trump admin pretended to do the right thing for a moment:
Last year, Energy Secretary Rick Perry proposed a plan for subsidizing coal and nuclear plants for providing base load generation—that is, round-the-clock power, but the plan was rejected by the utility regulators who said they will study the national grid’s resilience to supply interruptions. Many grid operators said they are already factoring in everything that has to do with their grid’s resilience to disruptions. Meanwhile, coal and nuclear plants are shutting down as they can no longer compete with cheap natural gas and can barely compete with subsidized renewables. Two months ago, utility FirstEnergy approached the Department of Energy directly with a request for what would have been a bailout package for its coal and nuclear subsidiaries, but just days after this, the parent announced the bankruptcy of the two units.FDR faced two similar problems. First, farmers were failing because of disorganized unregulated competition. His admin recognized (1) farmers are a crucial BASELOAD for the entire economy, (2) farming isn't an occupation you can jump into and hope to succeed. FDR subsidized good farmers and discouraged upstarts. Second, industry and commerce were unable to expand because of patchy electricity and water utilities. FDR built dams and power plants and water systems to enable further growth. Above all, FDR didn't let entrenched bureaucrats conspire with bankers to stop his efforts. He fired bureaucrats and closed banks. = = = = = Coal and nuclear are parallel to farms, but the parallel isn't really necessary. A nuke plant relies on a long trail of experience and engineering, and runs steadily with very little input. Nuke plants here in USA STRONG can no longer be built AT ALL because the government has ALLOWED envirodemons and lawyerdemons to block construction forever. In sane countries a nuke plant only takes about two years to build, as Russia is profitably proving in MANY sane countries. Natural gas is much easier to build, mainly because the regulators have decided to ALLOW it. A gas plant needs constant input via pipelines or tankers, which are much more susceptible to interruption and price variation. "Renewables" are a fraud. Nothing more, nothing less. As always, our dysgovernment SUBSIDIZES CRIME and SLAUGHTERS honest useful industries.
Labels: Carbon Cult, Fucking asked and fucking answered
¶ 12:25 AM
Thursday, October 27, 2016
What are you paying for?
Still feeling somewhat guilty for using Brüel & Kjær when I could have pushed for GenRad, I decided to make a small votive offering to the Made In USA gods, who are also the analog gods. Found a GenRad sound level meter on Ebay from a vendor in Kansas, bought it for $50.
This one is about 20 years old. It was used by the Kansas Dept of Transportation, probably for highway noise abatement studies. Note the calibration sticker from 2004. Presumably the Ebay vendor bought it at a state gov't surplus auction.
SLMs aren't especially exciting or complicated. I bought a similar-looking Chinese unit from Radio Shack back in the '90s for the same $50. New Chinese SLMs of similar specs are still in the $50 range.
This GenRad unit is higher quality than the Radio Shack SLM. Claims to be made in USA. Satisfyingly hefty and still working perfectly. The pouch is real leather. Based on those differences, I guessed the price of a new unit should be around $300.
What's the actual GenRad price?
THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS? YOW!
What are you paying for?
Simple answer: Legal authority. Chain of evidence. Bully power. When you buy new from GR and maintain calibration through GR, you can use the readings in court. That's why the Kansas DOT buys from GR instead of using cheap Chinese meters. They have to be prepared to defend all of their decisions against a Soros-powered environmental group, or against a JPMorgan-powered corporation. Noise readings are a minor part of those defenses, but even noise readings have to stand up in court.
Direct parallel to medical costs. When a doctor tells you to buy a Mylan EpiPen for $700, the doctor is comparatively safe because Mylan has performed all the FDA nonsense. If the doc told you to buy an equivalent EpiPen through Craigslist for $10, he wouldn't be safe from lawyers.
This is the dominant form of 'economic rent' in USA STRONG. It's a Tribal protection racket, indistinguishable from the older Italian version. Syndicate creates a threat, then charges citizens to avoid the threat.
Well, there is one difference. The Tribal syndicate has an iron grip on all levels of government, while the Italian syndicate was only able to buy some parts of some city governments. So there's no Bunco Squad available to counteract this racket.
= = = = =
June 2020 footnote: I finally made this SLM useful. I don't really need to take noise readings. I bought it partly as gratitude to GenRad, and partly for the sound output, thinking it would serve as a microphone. At first I couldn't make the output work, so I assumed it was broken, or maybe it wasn't really meant to be a sound output. The SLM stayed on the shelf for 4 years. Finally this year I got bored enough to try it again with different plugs and cables. The jack is a 'micro' size, and it's recessed behind a D-shaped plastic hole, so most plugs can't get in. I suspect it was meant to take a proprietary GenRad plug, like the similarly official Webster Chicago wire recorder. After I found the right narrow-handled plug, the SLM turns out to be a splendid microphone, putting out lots of voltage to satisfy the computer's input. No hum or hiss, and the weighting buttons filter the sound in different ways. Rediscovering or rejuvenating a forgotten item is one of life's outstanding pleasures.
= = = = =
July 2020: Now I'm using it for noise readings after all.
This one is about 20 years old. It was used by the Kansas Dept of Transportation, probably for highway noise abatement studies. Note the calibration sticker from 2004. Presumably the Ebay vendor bought it at a state gov't surplus auction.
SLMs aren't especially exciting or complicated. I bought a similar-looking Chinese unit from Radio Shack back in the '90s for the same $50. New Chinese SLMs of similar specs are still in the $50 range.
This GenRad unit is higher quality than the Radio Shack SLM. Claims to be made in USA. Satisfyingly hefty and still working perfectly. The pouch is real leather. Based on those differences, I guessed the price of a new unit should be around $300.
What's the actual GenRad price?
THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS? YOW!
What are you paying for?
Simple answer: Legal authority. Chain of evidence. Bully power. When you buy new from GR and maintain calibration through GR, you can use the readings in court. That's why the Kansas DOT buys from GR instead of using cheap Chinese meters. They have to be prepared to defend all of their decisions against a Soros-powered environmental group, or against a JPMorgan-powered corporation. Noise readings are a minor part of those defenses, but even noise readings have to stand up in court.
Direct parallel to medical costs. When a doctor tells you to buy a Mylan EpiPen for $700, the doctor is comparatively safe because Mylan has performed all the FDA nonsense. If the doc told you to buy an equivalent EpiPen through Craigslist for $10, he wouldn't be safe from lawyers.
This is the dominant form of 'economic rent' in USA STRONG. It's a Tribal protection racket, indistinguishable from the older Italian version. Syndicate creates a threat, then charges citizens to avoid the threat.
Well, there is one difference. The Tribal syndicate has an iron grip on all levels of government, while the Italian syndicate was only able to buy some parts of some city governments. So there's no Bunco Squad available to counteract this racket.
= = = = =
June 2020 footnote: I finally made this SLM useful. I don't really need to take noise readings. I bought it partly as gratitude to GenRad, and partly for the sound output, thinking it would serve as a microphone. At first I couldn't make the output work, so I assumed it was broken, or maybe it wasn't really meant to be a sound output. The SLM stayed on the shelf for 4 years. Finally this year I got bored enough to try it again with different plugs and cables. The jack is a 'micro' size, and it's recessed behind a D-shaped plastic hole, so most plugs can't get in. I suspect it was meant to take a proprietary GenRad plug, like the similarly official Webster Chicago wire recorder. After I found the right narrow-handled plug, the SLM turns out to be a splendid microphone, putting out lots of voltage to satisfy the computer's input. No hum or hiss, and the weighting buttons filter the sound in different ways. Rediscovering or rejuvenating a forgotten item is one of life's outstanding pleasures.
= = = = =
July 2020: Now I'm using it for noise readings after all.Labels: Age of Stings, Metrology, new toy
¶ 5:42 PM
Monday, March 14, 2016
Campaign news
News items:
The President said he's glad to see that in recent days Donald Trump, speaking in the eastern states, is sounding less like an isolationist. He said "I cannot trust a man who plays this kind of game with the grave issues of national security", and urged listeners to choose a candidate who maintains her principles under fire, and that candidate, he said, is Hillary Clinton. In upstate NY, billionaire mogul Trump finished a New England tour before enormous audiences with a speech tonight in Troy where he devoted himself to the subject of the nation's finances. He accused the administration of systematically encouraging inflation and using inflation as a national policy. The mogul's remedy consists of three steps. One, knocking down the administration's idol of cheap money; Two, getting unified action from the government's economic agencies; and Three, slicing the fat out of the national budget. Former secretary of state Clinton is in NY state too, and we're just getting reports of her speech in Buffalo where she said Fascist Buffoon Trump is guilty of a cruel hoax by holding out hope for the release of prisoners held by ISIS. And Clinton went on, it's a great tragedy that the Tea Party wackos have succeeded in doing what Hitler's best generals never could do: taking control of a major candidate.Needless to say, I'm pulling the tired old plus ça shit. This was actually a CBS radio newscast on October 12, 1952. The president was Truman and the candidates were Eisenhower and Stevenson. I changed the names, changed Soviet Union to ISIS, and changed Old Guard Republicans to Tea Party Wackos. Everything else is the same. What struck me as interesting was Stevenson's Hitler metaphor. I'd always heard that Adlai was the perfect model of delicate refined political rhetoric. Supposedly he lost to Ike because he was unwilling to stoop to gutter politics. And I'd always heard that Xenophobic Buffoon Trump Has Yanked Political Speech Into The Gutter For The First Time In The Whole Exceptional History Of Our Great And Grand Constitutional Democracy. Turns out old delicate Adlai could run a Godwin just as expertly as any modern Buffoon. ¶ 3:44 AM
Monday, August 23, 2021
Not replication, just dumb
Is this another Replication Crisis? Not exactly.
From Buzzfeed, seen at UD.
Renowned psychologist Dan Ariely literally wrote the book on dishonesty. Now some are questioning whether the scientist himself is being dishonest. According to the 2012 paper, when people signed an honesty declaration at the beginning of a form, rather than the end, they were less likely to lie. A seemingly cheap and effective method to fight fraud, it was adopted by at least one insurance company, tested by government agencies around the world, and taught to corporate executives. It made a splash among academics, who cited it in their own research more than 400 times. That leaves Ariely, who confirmed that he alone was in touch with the insurance company that ran the test with its customers and provided him with the data. But he insisted that he was innocent, implying it was the company that was responsible. “I can see why it is tempting to think that I had something to do with creating the data in a fraudulent way,” he told BuzzFeed News. “I can see why it would be tempting to jump to that conclusion, but I didn’t.” According to correspondence reviewed by BuzzFeed News, Ariely has said that the company he partnered with was the Hartford...Sounds like Ariely is naive and unrealistic, not dishonest. The academic side of “social” “science” has been disconnected from reality since 1910 or so. Insurers and marketers have been running real experiments with a real profit motive, so their own findings about behavior and motivation are accurate. Insurers have learned how to judge honesty from BILLIONS of real experiments. Scenario: When Ariely asked Hartford to run this little study, Hartford ACCURATELY JUDGED that Ariely was both influential and naive. They figured that his “results” might lead competing companies to adopt a counterproductive way of judging honesty, thus giving Hartford a competitive advantage. And their little meta-experiment worked. "At least one other insurer" did adopt the dumb trick. This brings us back to the Trinity House theme. Trinity House WAS the insurer, so its own funding of science was motivated toward realism and honesty through a direct feedback loop. If better foghorns or better radio communication helped to keep a ship from crashing, the ship would reach harbor safely and Trinity House would receive a fee for keeping the ship safe. = = = = = Semi-relevant sidenote: Trinity House was developed to catch and eliminate Wreckers, criminals who built false beacons to lead ships onto the rocks so the criminals could loot the wreck. The interesting interactive radio show 'Calling All Detectives' had one episode about a modern Wrecker.
Labels: Trinity House
¶ 10:33 PM
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Putting down.....
Putting down my usual metaphors for a moment, I really think Bergoglio is simply not very smart. His intrusion into politics makes no sense.
The three priorities he chose were two that are dear to the American bishops — immigration and religious liberty. Those two have dominated the bishops’ public-policy advocacy in recent years. The third was dear to the Pope himself: the need for global regulation to fight climate change.He is also (at least for now) mildly opposed to abortion, and strongly favors the destruction of normal families. If you're serious about helping poor people, these advocacies are wildly dissonant. I'll put them in color columns. Red means bad for poor, green means good for poor.
Religious liberty is GOOD for poor people. Poor people need strong churches.
Strong policing, including capital punishment, HELPS the poor. Crime victims are almost entirely poor. Rich fuckheads can afford private security and gated communities. Poor grandmas in the ghetto need to have criminals harshly controlled by the GOVERNMENT. Catholic opposition to policing and capital punishment KILLS the poor.
Abortion is explicit genocide of the poor. That's obvious. No mystery or secret. So opposing abortion helps the poor.
Devaluing normal families and confusing the culture makes it harder for poor people to keep families together. Rich fuckheads don't need cultural support for proper marriage. They can afford illegal immigrant servants, in vitro fertilization and lawyers.
Open borders are a DIRECT AND INTENTIONAL WAR against the poor and working class. The ENTIRE PURPOSE of open borders is to remove income and dignity from poor people, maximize the profits of the Chosen, and provide cheap servants for the Chosen.
The "climate change" crime is another DIRECT AND INTENTIONAL WAR against the poor. Its chief purpose is to destroy the jobs a poor man can do; which in turn eliminates the families that poor men could form if they could get industrial jobs. And, of course, maximizes the profits of the Chosen.
= = = = =
Well, when I started writing that list I was expecting an equal alternation of red and green. Looks like the reds dominate.
= = = = =
Later, after reading the text of Francine's congressional address... Except for the favorable mention of Moses as a patriarch, the speech could have been written by Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Pure Satan from start to finish. Not dumb after all. Infinitely evil.Labels: Carbon Cult, Make or break, Natural law = Sharia law
¶ 4:34 AM
Friday, September 03, 2021
Cost-saving? Bah.
A trivial but revealing note from New Superstitionist.
CERN, the biggest and most modern and most advanced and most fashionable and most expensive research facility in the world, still uses mainframe-style TAPE for recording data.
THEY KNOW IT'S A HOAX BECAUSE THEY'RE BUILDING THE HOAX.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) wakes from a three-year shutdown next month when beam tests begin ahead of experimental work. During the downtime, upgrades were made to the computer centres that handle the vast amounts of data produced when particles smash into each other close to the speed of light. But, despite the LHC being the most expensive scientific instrument built, the information it collects is still archived on magnetic tape – a technology that has barely changed since 1952. Alberto Pace says that when it comes to storage “we are looking for cheap”, and tape is more cost-effective than hard discs or flash memory.I don't buy the cost-saving excuse. These monsters have infinite funding. If they really needed reliable storage, they could easily develop a "quantum entanglement" storage system or a "Higgs boson" storage system if those phenomena really existed. Or they could rent AWS cloud storage since they're an active and eager part of Deepstate. The rest of Deepstate only obliterates #Whole-of-society or #Whole-of-government. LHC is ready to obliterate #Whole-of-universe with a black #whole when commanded.
THEY KNOW IT'S A HOAX BECAUSE THEY'RE BUILDING THE HOAX.
Labels: #WholeOfSociety
¶ 11:43 AM
