Abe Lincoln Demands Protests, Digital Exodus Is One

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https://tinyurl.com/1exodus1

Exodus

Read Why We Need The Digital Exodus in order to save democracy. It’s something you can do without imminent fear of being arrested or shot.

Lincoln

Abe Lincoln saw this coming, and advised each of us to “[Rise] fighting, grasping whatever he could first reach.” If Lincoln were around today, he would suggest reaching for the Digital Exodus instead of a pitchfork.


This and That


 The Greatest Editing Decision of All Time

Gene Weingarten
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Great Advice
the great Nicky Mee passes on some great life advice.
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Clothing Tags
Y
ou already know the arrow on your gas gauge points to the side your fuel door is on. But did you know that the garment care tag on clothing is always on the left as you face forward?
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Me and Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson’s book, Energy Follows Thought,  proves we are brothers from another mother. Things I say too: no idea where songs come from. Some old songs are postcards from the past. Lyrics come first. He worries each song will be his last. He’s in his 90’s and still writing. I should be so lucky.


Musical Change

First, the big news. My first song, Holding My Heart, while heartfelt and set to a nice melody (thank you Welsh Wonder) shifted back and forth between second person (you) and third person (she) because of my inexperience. A few weeks ago, I decided to fix it. The Welsh Wonder re-recorded six words and didn’t charge me for it, so there is a new Holding My Heart, with a change that I, alone, will notice.

Which got me to thinking. In the first century and a half of recorded music, or for that matter, large-circulation newsprint, any stupid error you made was chiseled in stone forever. Now that physical music (CDs) and printed paper are (mostly) gone, professionals in both fields have an unprecedented opportunity: fix the error so it is as if it were never made.

Every newspaper editor and every musician who worked before the 21st century must be so jealous. Scrupulous and ethical journalists notate such edits. I, on the other hand, make stealth corrections suggested by my handful of Sunday night readers (mostly MIT grads) before the hordes (if 100 can be considered a horde) arrive on Monday. Musicians who only heard the clinker (missed note) after the record/CD shipped,  once had to live with it forever.  Now, five minutes of digital editing insures no one will ever know.


Knock-On Effects

I am sure the AI which was used to calculate the “Bring American Industry Home” tariffs carefully accounted for knock-on effects.

I am not a winemaker, but I do sit in on a weekly Zoom Call with several of them. I got schooled in the fact that punishing tariffs intended (maybe) to protect the declining American wine industry will likely have the opposite effect.

Liquor delivery trucks don’t go out until they are full. Dramatically decreased imports means it takes longer to fill the trucks that take American wine to retailers. Wineries get paid erratically and later. Which is bad for cash flow. Boxed wine, yes. That great Zin from a small winery? No.

Does anyone care? Yes, absolutely. As much as they care about Social Security (a Ponzi scheme) and the National Park Service (stay open despite the fact that no one works there anymore). A little pain now for a lot of gain later, prescribed by people who will feel no pain because they have multi-billion dollar nest eggs to support them.


What Will They Think Of Us in 2125? 2525? Part 1

A century or more from now people will look back and laugh at us.

It is not an original idea with me, but it certainly seems likely that when people in the future look back, they will think the stupidest thing we did in the 20th and 21st century was to allow frail human beings to drive two-ton cars at 70 mph.

Other things that will be looked at in wonder will include twice electing a man bent on destroying America.  Allowing guns in the hands of felons, or in the homes of children or depressives. A century from now, I doubt we’ll be losing 200,000 people a year to guns and 42,000 people a year to car accidents. If only I could live to see that, if only I am not shot, killed in a car accident, or hit by a meteor.

That got me thinking of the frightening things we did in the past. What they have in common with cars and guns is that they were best practices at the time.


MIT Grad Gets A Job Offer

Interviewer:  So what did you have in mind for a starting salary?

Grad: I was thinking $150,000, depending on the benefits.

Interviewer: How about 5 weeks vacation, 14 holidays, 50% match to your retirement plan ... and a company car of your choosing.

Grad: You've got to be kidding!

Interviewer: Yes. But you started it!


This and That

Why some Brits detest Trump
Don’t fail to miss it (inside MIT Joke). Written in April 2022, it reads as if it were written this morning. I like to point to the original in these cases, to benefit the author. But the London Times is one of the world’s hardest paywalls hence the secondary link. Share it like a chain letter. Send it to five friends, who must send it to five friends or else their country will become an autocracy...
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Award Winning Metaphor
Thank you Clark Smith: “the TV series Reacher is full of great quotes. At one point, a character asks whether a team member considers him a good shot. She replies, "Are you kidding? You couldn't hit a donkey's ass with a banjo."
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Because the US Government Won’t

Czechs are now crowdfunding for artillery ammunition for Ukraine.
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Hunter S. Thompson Nailed It
With regard to people who are surprised by what’s happening: “Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride.”
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Grabbing the Third Rail
Elon Musk has firmly grabbed the third rail of American politics: Social Security. I am surprised that he, as an engineer, does’t realize that anything over 10 Ma of current will freeze him to the rail. I think he’s at 11.


Love Letter Punctuation

Thank you Nicky Mee.
Basic Letter (No Punctuation)
Dear John
I want a man who knows what love is all about you are generous kind thoughtful people who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior you have ruined me for other men I yearn for you I have no feelings whatsoever when we’re apart I can be forever happy will you let me be yours
Gloria
With Punctuation (Version 1)
Dear John,
I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we’re apart. I can be forever happy. Will you let me be yours?
Gloria
With Punctuation (Version 2)
Dear John,
I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men I yearn. For you I have no feelings whatsoever. When we’re apart I can be forever happy. Will you let me be?


Quadrants

There are two kind of people in the world: those who divide everything into quadrants and the people who aren’t consultants.

Do we all know a couple of guys in group D? I think we do. (thank you Pearls Before Swine). Everyone loves a, everyone strongly dislikes d.

 

Smart & Humble (a)

Smart & Arrogant (b)

Dumb & Humble ( c )

Dumb & Arrogant (d)


Paul Makes The Top 5

Behind a freewall: Reasons not to Annex Canada. Mine was “Curling and Hockey will deplete our precious national reserves of boredom.” Also, Kermit’s Commencement Address. My winner: “Graduated you have become.  No employment do I sense in you. Oh wait, that's from Yoda’s commencement address,” with the Yoda part struck out. My losers, which deserved to be on the list:
You miss every fly you don't stick your tongue out at.
Take the great leap. Don't worry about getting wet.... (OK, this one isn’t so good


Meme O’ The Week: Specifications

Whenever I think of specifications, I think of a probably apocryphal story I tell that I have been regaling engineers with for decades (never let the facts stand in the way of a good story).

When the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system was being built, they rejected everything railroad and embraced everything aerospace. Westinghouse won the bid for the signaling system, which tracked each train through a signal induced into the track. During testing, a train stopped and disappeared from the board. “If this were real, we’d run a train through there!” said Bart. “The specification didn’t include stopped trains,” Westinghouse said.

Specs


Who said that?

“The fundamental business of the country, that is the production and distribution of commodities, is on a sound and prosperous basis.”

Which member of what economic team said that? How recently? Was he right? Will this statement cause a market recovery?