Rich people — left, right, center — think what they have to say is interesting because they get used to people treating them that way.
Ramesh Ponnuru, Twitter, 2016-07-21.
April 11, 2018
QotD: Wealth hath its (social) privileges
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April 3, 2018
QotD: How to win a trade war
Spartacus has had enough. He has been taken advantage of for too many years and he has suffered trade deficits for far too long. Complaints to the regulators have fallen on deaf ears so now time has come to take the necessary action to put this to an end.
For far too long, Spartacus has run a significant trade deficit with Woolworths and Coles; not only for groceries but for petrol also.
Spartacus keeps buying things from Woolworths and Coles but they never buy anything from him. Those bastards even occasionally “dump” products in their stores meaning that Spartacus can buy groceries for less than he would normally. This is completely unsatisfactory.
Effective immediately, pursuant to SEO 1 (Spartacus Executive Order 1), Spartacus has declared a trade war on Woolworths and Coles. Hence forth, rather than buying quality and (relatively) well priced groceries from these trade cheaters, Spartacus will grow his own fruit, vegetables and meat. And rather than buying petrol, Spartacus will walk or otherwise ride his 2 wheeled chariot. Importantly also, when it comes to paper products, particularly of the toilet paper variety, well, the Fairfax papers will be used for their natural purpose.
Yes. Spartacus will have less leisure time, less disposable income and less grocery choice, but he will no longer have a trade deficit with Woolworths and Coles. This is a trade war Spartacus can win.
And if a sore “butt” comes to pass, what would be colonic damage. Sorry. Collateral damage.
“Spartacus”, “Spartacus’ Trade War”, Catallaxy Files, 2018-03-11.
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April 1, 2018
QotD: Modularity
I was able to repair my sewer system because everything in it was modular. The pipe leading out of the house was made up of identical sections of fired clay pipe put together like legos. They were made of durable stuff, and they were installed to work using gravity alone. They worked for over one hundred years despite the efforts of dozens of people to screw them up in the interim. If they were a unitary system of some sort, and they failed, I would have been forced to replace them as a unitary system. To translate, that would have meant moving into a cardboard box behind a strip mall dumpster.
I could fix the broken components, and leave the others alone. Don’t underestimate the importance of this concept. In housing, everyone desires everything to be unitary, and wants it to be brand new forever. I can’t fix a modern house. I’m a dolt, but that’s not why I can’t fix it. In general, everything to do with a modern house can be replaced, but it can’t be fixed. If your hardwood strip flooring is worn, you can sand it and refinish it and get another fifty years out of it. If someone puts a coal out on your Pergo floor, you can lump it, or you can replace it. It’s sold as permanent. In real life, “permanent” really means “disposable.” The word “sustainable” is similar. It really means “in need of massive, permanent subsidy.”
Sippican, “You May Not Believe This, But ‘Weapons-Grade Nuts’ Is the Name of My Psychedelic Furs Tribute Band. But I Digress”, Sippican Cottage, 2016-03-16.
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March 23, 2018
The Grand Tour James May Running
The Grand Tour Fans
Published on 16 Mar 2018Do you think James May never ran on TV and during the episode of The Grand Tour where Jeremy Clarkson drove the Ford GT was the first time ever?
Well you’re wrong. In the third season of James May Man Lab he ran on public TV. Check out this video and see James Running (twice !!)
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March 22, 2018
Libertarian Dad Jokes
ReasonTV
Published on 21 Mar 2018In homage to Dad Joke videos everywhere, Reason‘s Andrew Heaton and Austin Bragg try their hand at one-liners, cornball punchlines, and “comedy.”
Written and produced by Austin Bragg, Meredith Bragg, and Andrew Heaton. Shot and edited by Bragg and Bragg. Starring Andrew Heaton and Austin Bragg.
Music: “Quirky Dog” by Kevin MacLeod
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March 21, 2018
QotD: “Woke”
In case you were unaware, “woke” is a term used by urban teens to describe a mental state in which one believes they are cognizant of how the world really works but instead wouldn’t have a clue if it slapped them in the face. Saying that someone is “woke” is a hip way of saying that they suffer from Dunning-Kruger effect.
Jim Goad, “The Problem With White Guys These Days”, Taki’s Magazine, 2018-02-26.
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March 16, 2018
Mostly Weekly Series Finale: Creative Destruction
ReasonTV
Published on 14 Mar 2018In the final episode of the webseries, we tackle how markets make and break stuff.
—–
In free and open markets people are able to make new technologies and business models, which displace older, established ones. That process of starting new companies and jobs destroys some professions while creating others.
It’s entirely understandable that people who lose their jobs want to keep them. But industries like manufacturing, coal mining, and mall retailers aren’t dying out because of competition from China, they’re being outmoded by automation, cheaper fuel sources, and online sales.
Despite the uncertainty that markets bring, they also create new jobs and entirely new professions. There aren’t gangs of unemployed lamplighters roaming the land; their descendants became Uber drivers, social media coordinators, and webseries producers.
In the end, it’s better for everyone to look at the world as it is and to move forward than to try and halt progress through the force of law.
Mostly Weekly is hosted by Andrew Heaton with headwriter Sarah Rose Siskind.
Script by Andrew Heaton and Sarah Rose Siskind with writing assistance from Brian Sack.
Edited by Austin Bragg and Sarah Rose Siskind.
Produced by Meredith and Austin Bragg.
Theme Song: Frozen by Surfer Blood.
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March 14, 2018
QotD: Lotteries
I am not a fan of the scratch-game lottery. It does not provide the same amount of amusement as burning a one-dollar bill. Time it, if you doubt me. You can scratch off a card in three seconds: scritch scritch scritch, ah crap. Please play again! But a dollar bill gives you at least 17 seconds of entertainment — more, if you set off the smoke alarm. Otherwise it’s the same effect: One dollar has passed from your hand into the great chain of being, and whether it subsequently manifests itself as a Trix bar in the pocket of a state employee or acrid smoke in the kitchen, it’s all just molecules in the end. And you’re out a buck.
But! Now the lottery has decided to give you a second chance. You mail in your losing lottery tickets — at least five duds, please — and they hold another drawing to confirm that you’re not only still a loser, but now you’re out 37 cents for postage.
James Lileks, “Backfence: A second-chance column for you”, Star Tribune, 2005-02-01
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March 11, 2018
QotD: The value of education
Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education.
Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy, 1945.
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March 10, 2018
Remy: I Like it, I Love it
ReasonTV
Published on 8 Mar 2018After years of complaining about Washington’s fiscal irresponsibility, Remy is finally in office and ready to make a change.
———-Parody written and performed by Remy
Produced and Edited by Austin Bragg
Music tracks and backing vocals by Ben KarlstromLYRICS:
Spent four to eight years complaining about all the cash we spend
Asking for your vote and money, we need limited governmentAbout how these deficits are costing us a trillion a pop
But vote for me, I’ll be as stingy as a GameStopAnd then I got elected and took over DC
Cutting back on all spending is what I would do you’d thinkBut I like it, I love it, I want some more of it
A wall so tall you can’t climb above it
Don’t know what it is about the spending that I covet but
I like it, I love it, I want some more of itThe Founding Father Daddies tried to teach me currency
Now my spending list is longer than a CVS receipt
Now I’m keeping old programs and taking out loans
I’m scrapping spending caps and I’m cranking out dronesI’m adding more spending, I’m throwing a parade
My list is shovel-ready (so is most of what I say)Cuz I like it, I love it, I want some more of it
I talk a lot, it turns out I’m bluffing
Don’t know what it is about the spending that I covet but
I like it, I love it, I want some more of it
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March 8, 2018
History of the Vikings (in One Take)
History Bombs
Published on 15 Feb 2018History of the Vikings (in One Take) by History Bombs
THIS IS THE AGE OF THE VIKING…
From the first raid on Lindisfarne in 793 to the fall of Harald Hardrada in 1066, we take an exciting tour through the Viking Age.
The Vikings had a remarkable global impact. Their long boats gave them a technological advantage that enabled them to dominate the sea and establish settlements across Northern Europe.
Ivar the Boneless established Danelaw and controlled central England for many years. Only Alfred the Great of Wessex was able to halt the Vikings advance across England by defeating Guthrum.
To the east, the Vikings were employed in modern-day Turkey as guards to Byzantine Emperors for four hundred years. The guard was called the ‘Varangian Guard’.
The video also includes the intrepid explorer, Leif Erikson, who is believed to have discovered North America some 500 years before Christopher Colombus!
This video was filmed in Northern Ireland and we would like to thank Magnus Vikings for use of their fantastic longboat!
Thank you for watching 🙂
Cast (in order of appearance): Guy Kelly, Robert Brown, Chris Hobbs, Suzie Preece, Tom Tokley, Richard Sherwood, John Henry Falle, Corinna Jane, Adrian Stevenson, Martin Savage, Richard Soames
Script & Music: Chris Hobbs
Director: Ellie Rogers
Producer: Claire O’Brien
Camera: Ryan Kernaghan
Focus Puller: Matt Farrant
Costumes: Alex Walker
Grade: Jack Kibbey NewmanScript Contributions: Ellie Rogers, John Henry Falle, Guy Kelly, Tom Tokley
Longship supplied by Magnus Vikings: http://www.magnusvikings.com/
Costumes supplied by Hampshire Wardrobe: https://www.hampshireculturaltrust.or…
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March 5, 2018
Gender War
Owen Benjamin
Published on 10 Mar 2017Watch this video to understand how men think, how women think, and why this narrative of gender conflict hurts everyone. I do it in a funny way because I’m a comedian, but there is a lot of truth in this. Not because I’m smart, but because I’ve made an unbelievable amount of mistakes in my life and don’t like to repeat them.
if you want to listen to my podcasts or see me live check out hugepianist.com
much love.
H/T to Rick McGinnis for the link.
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March 4, 2018
The dirty secret of a lot of “traditional” family recipes
At Atlas Obscura, Alex Mayyasi spills the beans about a lot of secret family recipes:
When Danny Meyer was gearing up to open his barbecue restaurant, Blue Smoke, there was one recipe he knew he had to have on the menu: his grandmother’s secret potato salad recipe.
“I told the chef, ‘My very favorite potato salad in the world was the one my grandmother made,’” Meyer recalls.
That’s a big statement coming from Meyer, a successful restaurateur who has earned Michelin Stars and founded the fast-casual chain Shake Shack. At the time, his grandmother had already passed away, but Meyer remembered that she kept recipes on three by five index cards. After a search, he found the right card and handed it to the restaurant’s chef, who invited Meyer to try it in the Blue Smoke kitchen.
When Meyer arrived, the sous chefs had a big bowl of potato salad that brought back memories of his grandmother. He tried it, smiled, and told the chefs, “That’s exactly right.” They grinned back at him mischievously. Eventually, Meyer broke and asked, “What’s so funny?” A chef pulled out a jar of Hellman’s mayonnaise and placed it on the table. Meyer looked at it, then realized that the secret recipe his grandmother had hoarded for years was on the jar. It was the official Hellman’s recipe for potato salad.
This actually seems to be a common phenomenon. The television show Friends even features a similar discovery, when one character, Phoebe, realizes that her grandmother’s “famous” chocolate chip cookie recipe came from a bag of Nestle Toll House chocolate chips.
Two months ago, we asked Gastro Obscura readers to send in accounts of their own discoveries. We promised a (loving) investigation of grandparents lying about family recipes. But instead we got a delightful look at the power of imagination, the limitations of originality, and the halo effect of eating a dish or dessert made by family.
March 1, 2018
Penn & Teller – The Right Not to be Offended
DeadJ0ker27
Published on 19 Feb 2010I’m personally offended by people who get offended.
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February 27, 2018
QotD: Anthems
If you were an alien visiting Earth you would quickly conclude from the evidence of your eyes and ears that national anthems probably originate in sport, and were designed to serve it. But even this mistaken conclusion would further befuddle you. If an anthem is intended to stir the blood and awaken athletes to duty in international contests, why are anthems also performed at games between teams belonging to the same country? Is it some sort of test?
Looking at the content and histories of the anthems themselves would not help you much. Some of them are military marches. Some of them are revolutionary street songs that came, over time or through immediate fiat, to represent an entire state. Some are “hymns.” Some are poetry — mostly bad poetry, and mostly by lyricists not otherwise remembered. Some are, like ours, a sort of mashup: poetry grafted onto a march. (The prescribed tempo for O Canada is “alla marcia”, and it is best when performed by the book.)
Every country has to have an anthem, it seems, for circular reasons. An anthem is a feature of a country, and it proves you are a country if other countries blare your anthem in the direction of your supreme leader on state visits. All anthems are performed upon roughly the same occasions everywhere. But if you could take a God’s eye view you, would see one nation warning its neighbours that they will drown in blood if they look across the border cross-eyed. The next nation over is singing about how it is a beacon of peace — particularly to its immediate neighbours, the unreasoning scum. The next nation is asking for God’s blessing on its handsome, wise royal family. The one after that is celebrating the violent overthrow of its handsome, wise royal family.
Colby Cosh, “Let’s talk about anthems”, National Post, 2016-07-14.
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