Sunday, January 31, 2016

We're a Shamelessly Open Cabal of Power?


Interesting isn't it that, however not secret they claim to be, we aren't allowed to follow the money with much of any specificity.


Charles Koch: We Are Not 'Some Secret Cabal'


As I said, Desperate People Do Desperate Things


And sometimes the most desperate are those in power; especially when they are seen as naked in the use of power.

The question we have to ask ourselves is what do we do about it, remembering that taking a too gloating, or righteous, attitude serves little purpose, other than to harden the circling of wagons to protect either the egos, and/or the cherished privileges of those who don't understand yet that they are cutting away at themselves even as the chop away at the rights of others.

We also have to remember that, though we may be doing a much better job of preserving the rule of law, we are by no means without sin in this matter. The privileged here, as well as the prejudiced, and willfully ignorant, avoid the full meaning of the rule of law a good deal more than a lot of us would like to admit.

We should also keep in mind that we are still a young nation; who in that youth wallows far too much in a culture of material excess that, in comparison to what the Chinese have given to humanity over considerably more centuries, isn't something we should be bragging too much on.

To be sure, there has also been a great deal of brutality connected with Chinese history, but that is for them to deal with. If we ever truly get our shit together in a comprehensively thoughtful and loving way, maybe then we can start dealing out with righteous judgements. But in that observation is there also the clue we need on how to proceed. I, for one, have to believe that any understandable criticisms we might want to make about what they do to their own citizens would carry a great deal more weight if we were fist already well down the road of living a better example of what enlightened social organization ought to be.

Let's be clear here. The Chinese are no more automatic monsters than we are. Any more than the Russians, or Syrians or Iranians, or whatever enemy de jour our leaders might want to provide focus to. They are humans subject to the same frailties, fears, pridefulness and temptations to extremes that we are subject to, and to which we succumb to our own ratio of shame.

As Gandhi said you have to be the change you wish to see made real in the world. And even as you aspire to live that change you have to understand that you will never eliminate the frailties that make people do things in very hurtful extremes. This is why he also said that such change comes only with great sacrifice. Sacrifice that will always be required to varying degrees.


Disappearances, Forced Confessions: China Targets Dissent


Saturday, January 30, 2016

Don't Gloat! The Swing is the Thing in How We Hang with Economics


The problems the Russians have, just as with the Chinese, affect everyone on the planet to varying degrees; if for no other reason than desperate people are prone to do desperate things. Then, of course, there's also that whole pesky "economic interdependence" economists like to talk about.

Also remember that it was the wild high of oil prices that got Putin spending for another Russian period of grand glory in the first place; a fact of life we've indulged in more than we'd like to admit. And the fact that oil will go back up again, to put temptation in harms way once more, should in no way make anybody feel any better.

These wild swings everywhere, just as with wild swings in weather, are portents of uncontrollability we ought to be taking quite seriously; especially if they ever start happening in various forms of syncopation with all the rest of the economies of the world. You need only think of all of those economies as one bridge, built of an interlaced tapestry of connections, and then consider what happened to Galloping Gertie when a bad harmonic was gotten wind of.


Falling Oil Prices, Plunging Ruble Hits Regular Russians Hard


What the Fuck is the difference where the secrets are kept?


If Snowden taught us anything it is that secrets aren't completely safe no matter where you put them. He got his from the NSA for christ sakes. No, the real issue, or should I say issues, are firstly the assumption of privileged ownership the powerful seem to bestow upon themselves, and secondly the right to make the priorities that lay behind the making of secrets in the first place.

Hillary, in my view, had them on her server because of the agorgence inherent in the powerful. She was in charge, They were hers to do what she pleased with them. Just as it is the right of all of them to create more of whatever kind or nature that they deem necessary. We are kept as children for a reason after all. Not only does it make it easier to say "you couldn't handle the truth," it makes it a self fulfilling logic go round that only they can be the adults in the room; able and willing to do what needs to be done.

When you hear them talk about secrets you ought to always ask: is this kept from everyone to avoid real damage to the people and property of America, or are they simply embarrassments the powerful want to avoid? Do they hide the arrangements between "Big Money" and what it holds as a high priority, and our political leadership? Are their strategies of action that, if known by enemies would put service persons in jeopardy, but for which the action benefits mostly the profit centers of Big Money? Actions which, if we had any say in from the get go, wouldn't have been contemplated in the first place, much less considered as a priority?

The world is going to hell in a limo they sit in the back of. We are given the illusion of being at the drivers seat of this limo, but it is no more than a toy steering wheel one would place on a child's car seat. The fact of the matter is that no one is really steering the limo. The powerful fight at the controls of the automated steering system; which is itself deeply flawed in any case. And the limo careens about, crashing into this, and crushing over that, on its way to a fiery end. And isn't it ever so reassuring that they worry about where to keep this and other "secrets?"



Republicans Attack Clinton Over 'Secret' Email Information






Friday, January 29, 2016

A Digg Inspired Set of Juxtapositions


I just couldn't help myself in putting this one together. Three separate stories that, to me, just reverberate with a common theme (you can't know how hard it was to not use throbbing here).

Whatever the shrinks might say about dicks, dick heads, and the need for making your mark, in one way or another, when you have the big stick (which in this case are the Benjamins rolled up inside your pants), you inevitably swing it for all to see. After all. What's the fun of having it if you don't show it off as often as possible, right? Especially if there are other dicks out there thinking that their's is bigger than yours. Stupid Fucks. You'll show them even if you do get off on it more than you'd like to admit.



The stories, respective are these:



While Even More Millions Continue to Starve


And neither extreme says much about the state of human affairs these days as we continue to conduct business as usual.


10 million African children are now obese or overweight


Thursday, January 28, 2016

Do You Suppose $15 an Hour as a Community Minimum Would Have Kept WallMarts in Small Town America?


Maybe but the probabilities would certainly be questionable.

The problem here is not only wages as a cost factor, but the whole idea of what is a reasonable profit, and how much competition to balance that with reasonable prices. Henry Ford was able to pay what were considered ridiculous wages at the time and still make a decent return on an affordable auto, but he wasn't facing the kind of competition the world revolves in today. Global markets certainly provide a lot of options in regards to not only where you can sell things, as well as where you can also produce them, but then create the pressure to seek the lowest common cost denominator.

The further problem with Seattle's new minimum is that even that isn't really a living wage. Any more than low cost labor is really in a producer's best interest in the first place. After all, how can you want world competitive infrastructure, well educated populace, and purchasers able to buy lots of what producers in general produce, and yet not want to pay the wages that would allow those things to be supported, or your fair share of taxes on profits to aid in same?

And then we throw in all of the delayed costs of mass production, and consumption, that have harmed the planet, and us, that are only now coming fully due. Another factor nobody wants to take responsibility for, but isn't going away.

And whether you are a Trump Chump, a Hillary High Hoper, or a Sanders Secret Socialist, you are not going to get someone who will be able to, or even want to, change what is the fundamental problem: Livelihoods based on the current mass productive/consumptive model, where everything is cost based, as opposed to effort based, is simply no longer viable. A comprehensively new alternative is absolutely the only thing that will address what needs to be addressed. This is the choice you better come to terms with, and soon.


Franchise Operators Ask High Court to Hear Minimum Wage Challenge


How Hard Ball Economics Works


And of course by "Works" I mean in the context of working for them. At least for the moment.

Let us review.

They first come in, undercut any competition to put them out of business, and then, as they are now the only, if not on a very short list of remaining stores, you not only have a large employer leave, you have little option for getting needed items. And if that weren't bad enough, there's the upshot of knowing that a big part of why they left is because your community couldn't afford to buy enough to make your store profitable to their satisfaction.

Gosh oh golly. I wonder why that could have been. Hmm... Maybe the cut rate wages that this now gone employer, as well as the other cut rates that might still be there taking advantage of same, was paying?

This, in microcosm, is exactly what our current economic operating system is doing to itself all across its fabric as global competition, an ever greater thirst for profit, and the consequent push to produce the better item for the least cost, works at cross purpose to its own existence. Continuing under the delusion that other markets somewhere will still keep buying, and that whatever social component that still remains in the mix will remain irrelevant, or sufficiently diverted to not be a further cost issue. If nothing else I guess they figure they'll be able to employ enough people in policing and the military to at least keep the robots serviced... At least until they are able to service themselves, and the planet is still stable enough for ongoing production and consumption of one sort or another.

If that's not a picture to chill your bones probably you're not wetware anymore.

Walmart Store Closures Sending Shockwaves Across Small Town America

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

On Our Own But in Charge of Little Save for the Choice to Starve or not, or have Shelter or Not.


This post from NBCnews.com joins the gowing littany of reports about the absurd contrast of human skill remaining within the process of mass production. More absurd still, however, is the fact that so little comment comes through concerning the production/consumption equation when it is humans who are  supposedly still going to be able to purchase this growing mountain of crap. Much less to be able to pay the bill for the delayed real costs of doing mass production/consumption for so long now.

If we are indeed on our own than why don't we act to the full measure of that condition. To do that, however, will require us to stop playing the diversion as occupation game. If the majority of us occupied ourselves with providing for ourselves sans the need for money, we might be able to have the authority as well as the responsibility to run our lives as we see fit.


Image: Robots are shown on the assembly line of the new 2015 Chrysler 200 at the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant on March 14 in Sterling Heights, Mich.

In Workplace of the Future, You're On Your Own (For Better or Worse)

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

It's...[pause for terrifying base tone pulses] the Chinese Market of Doom!


Looking at the NBCnews.com article here you could be forgiven for thinking that these things certainly get overblown with the media. Just as an advocate like myself can just as certainly be criticized for making too much of it. And I have to admit, it's hard not to when the said media make it so easy.

What you have to understand with economic situations like this is that any one metric of an entire economy is bound to get some part of what's going on right, and at least some part for which it is not so accurate.

The Chinese economy, though it is facing enormous difficulties, also has a lot that is still working to allow it to continue chugging along. The problem with markets, as it is with any market based economy, is that perception is so fundamental in the determination of value. So much has been chugging along in what the Chinese make that there are surpluses; which is not only objects that are not selling where a profit is involved, but that there are probably too many producers in the mix. This does not make for positive perceptions.

The thing is, as the German market watcher quoted in the article points out, there are other objects, or services, that are selling quite well and that this should be a perceptive positive. In this case Health Care. This gets tricky, however, in deciding over all economic benefit, when one remembers that one sector's growth is simply another sector's increase in the cost of making what may already be difficult to sell. And in the regard of Health Care one has to also remember that something like 360 cities in China have air unfit to breath. Not to mention the fact that smoking is increasing, and the picture for water purity isn't look so good either.

On the one hand this is going to insure that Health Care will be a big growth sector. On the other hand one wonders how a shrinking employment base, or producers fighting new sources of cheap labor, is going to afford it. Factor in a population the size of China's, as well as the fact of not only an aging population, but one where the majority are still dirt farming poor, and you have to wonder what they are going to do to keep a lid on things.

And then there is the rest of the world and all of the shit that goes on to make it hard for anyone anywhere to be able to afford what their producers make, let alone what the Chinese make. Global severe weather, resource scarcities and growing political turmoil that throws huge amounts of instability into every market conceivable. It does not paint a pretty picture for any economy. Throw in the fact that trying to address any of the issues that might aleaviate these causative factors costs counters that someone has to fork over and you get everyone pointing at the other guy for who should be responsible.

Have no doubt that the Chinese market will come back... At least for a while, for which it will pay with another downturn of even greater proportions. And the thing you can most likely count on is that the wild swings will start happening with greater frequency.



Global Stocks Sink Amid China 'Doom' Fears

Sunday, January 24, 2016

This Really Sucks


And I mean big donkey dicks.

If I had been Duchovny I would have insisted she get paid no less than what I got. She was pivotal to the chemistry the two characters had. It would have been dreary shlock without her performance of Scully.

Gillian Anderson

Gillian Anderson: I was offered 'half' of what new 'X-Files' paid David Duchovny

Unless, of course, he shot himself


And with an ego that big, how could he miss? Though one does wonder whether the fact of his death would actually sink into what ever it is his followers call reality.

What really disturbs me, however, is that his comment stems from his view of the conviction of his supporters. Which is telling, if for no other reason than to make quite explicit his confidence that the Trump Chump Brigade stands ready to drink the cool aid when ever called upon.

I will part with simply stating that I agree with the National Review's depiction of Trump as the "American Mussolini." In some of his pictures he even looks like the Italian strut master, only with ridiculous hair.

Trump Says He Could 'Shoot Somebody' and Still Maintain Support

Trump Says He Could 'Shoot Somebody' and Still Maintain Support

Friday, January 22, 2016

Free to Play Games. Fun and Torment and a Suspicion


I have a guilty pleasure I need to confess to. I quite enjoy playing Free to Play Games. I say confess to and guilty only because it is frivilous fun and not at all what a serious social critic ought to be indulging in; or so one would think I suppose. The problem, however, is that I can only remain serious for certain lengths of time and then I must be something else entirely.

This does not in any way obviate the need to keep my mind occupied, though. And in that is there a requirement for play with some thought to it. Back when I was working I could afford to keep pace with the latest turn based strategy games (Civilization and Sim City to just name a few), as well as the real time strategy cousins (Command & Conquer: Generals, Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance to name another few). Now that I'm retired and unable to afford much of anything (Kathleen and I share her house and the expenses) free to play is pretty much the only way to go.

In any case, though, as I have been playing World of Warships, World of Tanks, War Thunder, Armored Warfare, and HearthStone, a few things have occurred to me.

First and foremost, of course, is that I pretty much suck at anything requiring close coordination of hand, eye and mind. What can you expect, for the most part, of someone who is 65. Fortunately I do pretty good often enough to keep my interest. As I while away the hours playing practice dummy for those who are good at these games, however, several thoughts have occurred to me.

The first thing is that the people who put these games out there, or at least the ones who know what they are really doing, know the value of practice dummies. If you want the premium people to feel incentivized to fork over real money for more advantages you need cannon fodder for them to put down with a certain ease so that they can not only run up their numbers, but more importantly get the ego boost they need to keep at it. The thing is, though, that you must also not let the cannon fodder get too discouraged.

So this, then, forms the basis for a suspicion I have been nursing for a while now. The smart people in this business set it up so that even dummies like me can have good games on an at least semi regular basis; just as they give the premium people extra advantages that go beyond simply getting more experience points, or in game currency, per battle.

In this, I think, they mimic, to a certain degree, what providers of bowling alleys used to do. That is to make the lanes formed with grooves (hardly perceivable) so that getting strikes would be a good deal more likely. It was a formula that worked quite well for them.

I do feel obliged at this point, though, to point out that I don't really have any problem with this. The server farms these games require are probably not cheap to rent, and as I am not paying with anything but my time, what ground for criticism could I have? The one thing that does bother me, however, is that this form of entertainment inevitably becomes so competitive. And in that do you see so many people getting so prone to game rage.

Let us not forget two connected things here: The combination of being good at something, and then getting credit for it. That simple duality is not an easy thing to come by in this world of commercialized competition. Too many people do not get much recognition for anything that they do, much less for something they might have done well. You can imagine, then, how these sorts of people might react when, in a team interaction where the outcome means either great benefit, or only chump change (at least in their eyes) , they react with such vehement diatribes of anger and resentment (just Google "Angry Gamer Rage" and see what you get).

And so something that ought to be fun, and is still fun for a significant portion of us, becomes a desperate bid for validation for another significant portion of the folks who play these games. It is something that I try, not always being successful, to not respond to in kind.

The important thing to remember here is that play is important; especially as it concentrates on a mindful attempt to find joy in fantasy endeavors that have no actual, hurtful consequences. As well to say that don't keep us from other mindful endeavors that have actual, beneficial consequences; which is where, of course, the whole idea of balance comes in. Something that ought to be a "No Shit Sherlock," but isn't unfortunately.





Would William F. Buckley Jr. Even Consider Being a Trump Chump?


I think not.


Thursday, January 21, 2016

Weather, Water, and Markets


The three story headers you see below came from NBCnews.com. The question you need to be asking yourself is: What do they all have in common?

The same operating system that doesn't handle any of them very well, and which actually works to exacerbate them in the first place.

You needn't think very long on this to see why. Extreme weather? Market instabilities? Resource shortages? The plain fact of the mater is that a cost based economy not only thwarts any efforts to address solutions, it ensures that each of the three questions just asked will interact with each other to give each more impact, as well as to make each even more difficult to address.

And lest you think that cheap oil now is a contradiction to this assertion just remember that it is cheap now only because it was so expensive a short time ago. And a short time from now it will be expensive again. And down the not so distant road it will become more expensive than gold if we don't get off it, and all the other fossil fuels soon.

And lets also not forget that Extreme Weather, Market Instabilities, and Resource Shortages will also create all sorts of social instabilities which will again interact with these, and themselves to put even more stress on a system that won't handle a great deal more.


Wednesday, January 20, 2016

A Juxtaposition You won't Ask the Right Questions About


The screen print you see below was taken from NBCnews.com in their Tech section.

On the one hand you will shake your head and feel disgust that child exploitation still exists in the tech world, even though you still look for the best battery at the cheapest price. And on the other hand you will worry about whether you'll be replaced soon by automation.

Continuing, in the former instance you might question whether you've been careful enough about who's battery dependent product you've been selecting, and in the latter you would certainly be likely to be questioning your ability to find a new employable skill that you could learn, let alone to be able to tolerate.

In nether case,however, will you question the operating system that presents us with such absurd contrasts in the first place. And therein lies one of the truths we are especially loath to take responsibility for.

Think about this. Slave labor (whatever the age), or Robots? This keeps happening for a reason. Global competition will increase ever more rapidly, just as our knowledge, and thus our ability to do things will increase. The pressure to provide the better object or service for the best price will follow just as sure as stink follows shit. And the bottom line will be ever more devoid of any kind of human need or consideration.

Perhaps the robots will toil on without us, going through the motions of using things so that more can be made, and so continue the madness until entropy finally wins out.




Tuesday, January 19, 2016

This is Your Capitalist Operating System on Electrictiy


And you would be the wet ware inside this thing getting anything useful pounded out of you.

Rinse and repeat.



A True Genius Turned On A Washing Machine With A Brick Inside It While It Was On A Trampoline

Here's a (perhaps) Not so Stealthy Attack on a Domestic Threat


The Arms Industry is not only a major profit center, it is the focus of it's own theater of conflict. The Northrup-Grumman company won the new long range bomber contract last year, but the Boeing-Lockeed Martin team filed a protest on that decision. And the matter is apparently still being fought over.

I bring this up now not because I think the Boeing partnership has the better bomber, but to emphasize a question I always have when it comes to matters of national security. At the end of the day what really decides what is best for our national security? What interests are involved in not only deciding what the priorities should be in addressing national security, but what constitutes the best bang for the buck in addressing each priority? Is it purely an objective look at the facts of the various situations and options? Or is it simply who has the most clout with the political and military leadership?

Perhaps it is some combination of the above but I can't help but be suspicious of just how much of the ratio is weighted towards clout, and the money that buys that clout.

Ad Seen at NBCnews.com:




DefenseNews.com Article:


Wednesday, January 13, 2016

More Obceneties Against the Planet


What is particularly obscene here is not only the fact it is, in the majority, Western style commercialism at work here, but that we have not taken the lead in helping these other countries do something about this travesty to our oceans.

The real issue of course is that packaging is to commercialism what lies are to the purveyors of power; the very air that they breath. And so the air, and water, and soil we depend on becomes more in the way of unnatural shit that we must work, wade and walk through.

But all of this is just more aspects of the monster we have made of Capitalism. That we can't even begin to consider the need for an alternative, much less an actual, workable substitute that would better balance individual liberty with a more integrated concept of our collective connection to not only each other, but to the planet itself, is testament to the power of lies, and the lie of power used without such connections.

How long will it take. That is what I keep asking myself. How long before the rest of us wake up and see the shit that we work, wade, and walk through. It will happen. Of this I am sure. I just have to struggle some times to keep faith that it will happen in time for us to do something about it.



5 countries spew more plastic into the oceans than the rest of the world together

A Frankenstein Moment of Clarity


Here, amidst all of the engineered packaging, and more clever than the rest of us hubris, the established powers that be recognize a monster of their own making. It would be wonderfully ironic were it not so damned depressing.

And the truly amazing thing about the "more clever than the rest of us" class is that very few, if any, will take this as an opportunity to consider that maybe... Just maybe what they've been on about for the last hundred years or so is playing with electric fire of the worst kind; trying to maintain their hubris, as well as their power, in the face of a ravaging monster that is not merely one person, but an entire way of doing things that values only money and profit.

That most of them won't, however, is a sure sign of the kind of insanity another, quite brilliant German described: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different response.


Obama Sets Up Contrast With Trump — and So Does the GOP Response


Tuesday, January 12, 2016

It's Time to Have Another "Duh!" Moment


Maybe it was a case of it being either this idea for an article or another on "Trump Can't be Taken Seriously."

Come on Salon. Why not do an article on what we're going to do for an alternative to the operating system that put us here in the first place?

The consultants are in charge now: How admen and advisers conquered American politics


The consultants are in charge now: How admen and advisers conquered American politics


Will Highly Accurate, Small Yield Nukes make "Big Stick" War More Thinkable?


I bring this new development in the ongoing rethink of whether we should be fielding a new generation of nukes or not to you attention not only because it ought to be causing more concern than it has so far, but also because of a suspicion I have had of what might have got the military think tank crowd worried in the first place. I say this because you can't talk about  smaller, more precise tactical nukes without wondering how it follows, coincidentally or not, on a series of books written by Joe Buff, starting in 2001.

Before going any further, however, I should also add that these are good reads which, as fiction, I enjoyed a lot. That being said, though, you still have wonder just how plausible the scenario presented is when it involves Germany and South Africa going rouge against much of the rest of the Western world. World resource shortages, and the ravages of very severe weather would be far more likely scenarios, it seems to me, and it would be between the West and the East.

The fact that it also depicts how successful a country might be in employing low yield nukes in significant numbers, especially at sea, certainly might suggest to the strategic security community a vulnerability coming to the fore. The real problem here, of course, is that the response is not to work at minimizing the more plausible causes of conflict, but to devise a counter weapon should those causes actually come to a logical conclusion.

Remember, we're talking about many billions of dollars to replace the old stock piles of nuke weapons. Money that, a reasonable mind might think, would be better spent on negotiating a host of measures that would not only lessen the friction of dwindling resources, but the causes of extreme weather.

Just a thought.


As U.S. Modernizes Nuclear Weapons, ‘Smaller’ Leaves Some Uneasy



Jeffrey Fuller series


Friday, January 8, 2016

Protection From Sea Launched Drone Bombs?


Now that we've started the conversation about Autonomous Air Vehicles we need to ask deeper questions on how we protect ourselves from sea launched versions of same. Especially as it relates to the ability to mask these things radar and infrared detection. You also have to account for the event of large numbers of them coming at you at the same time.

This is, I believe, exactly why my Max-Tac, hybrid dirigible train platform would be the ideal solution. Not only would mile long trains, with unlimited on station time, offer idea, downward facing flat surfaces for the usual phased array, and large apeture infrared detection systems, it would also have the support capacity for the Drimes (see below) that would protect them.

The other option you get when fielding clouds of rechargeable drones is that they could also be used for line of sight signal interruption as a detection mechanism; pretty much like the laser trip wires you see in bank heighst movies, only in this case you would have a three dimension matrix of trip beams to catch anything flying through.

Hybrid Dirigible Blimp, or "Hydrimp."



Drimes:

"...They would be protected by swarms of Drimes, or drone proximity mines. There would litteraly be thousands of these, say, 5 to 10 kilo Drimes surrounding the train. The train would support them by deploying tethered recharge/control nodes that would be set up to handle the recharge turnaround of something on the order of 50 to 100 Drimes.

The Drimes themselves would employ a claymore type, shrapnel explosive, with active directional control, to provide the best bang to payload ratio, while still allowing for significant battery load..."

Thursday, January 7, 2016

You Think the Skies are Crowded Now? Just Wait for the Autonomous Air Uber Company


Two developments posted on Gizmag.com portend to skies abuzz with more than just camera drones.
Behold below the (respectively) new LiquidPiston Inc rotary engine (boasting a amazing 75% thermal efficiency), rated at 40 bph, and below that the Autonomous Arial Vehicle being developed in China by  Ehang


The LiquidPiston X2 rotary engine boasts a thermal efficiency of 75 percent
See it here.

The human-totin' Ehang 184 AAV at CES
See it here.

You combine the power to weight ratio of that engine with an A.A.V. like the 184 and you will have an air platform that will be able to lift you and your luggage automatically to anywhere within a 100 to 200 mile radius; and all you will have to do is click your phone app to make it land near where you need it.

You don't see it now but FAA officials are experiencing horrendous apocalyptic mental fits in anticipation of figuring out how to keep our air space from becoming one giant kill zone.

A Tragedy We Should All be Concerned About


A Cascade Event is really only another way of saying that shit rolls down hill. And a super tanker load of same may well be on the way for the average Chinese citizen. We think we know what economic suffering is all about but in actuality we know dick compared to what the Chinese have already, and may well come to, suffer in the weeks ahead. My heart, for one, goes out to what are essentially very hard working, decent people.

The thing is, though, that this avalanche of avarice won't stop at the Chinese boarder. As the NBCnews.com post makes clear, just as their smog blows over to us eventually, their economic woes will do the same thing. And just as the elites there won't suffer nearly as much as the average working person, the same will be the case here, as with the rest of the world.

This is an interconnected world not at work, but shaking within the same warped web of contradictions that is Capitalism. And the tragedy will only worsen because the military minds on both sides will be unlikely to let go of their cherished visions of the other being the enemy. As is too often the case the generals, either during, and/or after, their tours of duty, become just another part of the money elites; either dictating policy or lobbying for it at the behest of big arms producers.

The Chinese are not our enemies. They are, however, our competitors, and therein lies the problem; as we are in competition for not only resources, but for markets as well, do we come to butt heads time and again. Two creative, industrious peoples who should be working together to make both the lives of their respective populations better, as well as the rest of the world as well. The real demon here goes by many names but in the end it all boils down to money.

European Shares Fall Sharply as China Halts Trading Again

European Shares Fall Sharply as China Halts Trading Again

Product Madness Update


This just in from Wad Master:

Those creative crazies are at it again. Word is that they are about to embark on a new campaign to revitalize education. The program they're going to start promoting calls for the tearing down of all K-12 schools, letting the land be lease out for more localized server farms. In their place would be thousands of multi-purpose learning kiosks set up in every shopping mall across the country. The dual role kiosks would not only help Jack and Jill learn to read and count (you can't buy what you can't read about, and how can you manage more purchases if you can't know how much money you have), but will also quickly convert into 25 person machine gun bunkers in the event of any terrorist attack. Implanted chips specially coded will ensure that only school age children will be allowed into the kiosks during such attacks, with prestocked, short barrel, fully automatic carbines, at the ready on Supremo Ammo Mags. The entire gun and mag assembly would be height adjustable, of course, to make sure every kid can kill with ergonomic ease.

Wad Master is hoping that the more artistic among the population will come up with interesting exterior design approaches to the kiosks, any examples of which will be presented here. The wiz wags at W.M. assure us that prizes of enormous value may well be given away for the best entries so stay tuned.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

We Want More Land to Make Money on, And We Don't Want to Pay Any Taxes.


In this standoff do we see a fundamental aspect of the extreme right; they see every aspect of nature as simply another feed stock of enterprise. Letting land, and the life that thrives on it, be is a sin to them precisely because they think of it only as untapped resource going to waste.

The ignorance involved here in not being able to understand the fact that life requires a rich tapestry of many different species threads in order for any of it to hold together, and  survive, is just astounding. Corresponding to the ignorance involved with not appreciating how important that tapestry is to not only our survival, but to our sanity as well. A fact that we will begin to understand a great deal more clearly as we colonize our stellar system; as, without that fabric of life around us, none of our habitats will prosper properly at all. People might barely survive, but not without great cost to their spirit, or Psyche.

The interesting aspect that will be at work here is to what degree any of the remaining presidential candidates will pander to this extremist flaunting of the law. My prediction is that a few will have to or lose whatever credibility they have with their extremist base.


Oregon Standoff: Armed Protesters, Political Reaction and #YallQaeda


Monday, January 4, 2016

The Pros and Cons of Google


Google is certainly far too big, and controls way too much of web advertising. Even someone such as myself who benefits from Google+, as well as Google blogs, has to acknowledge that.

That said, however, one also has to acknowledge that they do spend money on socially relevant things as well. Case in point is the expanding effort to help people gauge whether solar panel installation would be cost effective for them.

On the one hand, of course, is the fact that cost effectiveness should be irrelevant. On the other hand, though, is the simple fact that the cost based system is, for the moment, a fact of life. This will change, one way or another, but the something is better than nothing approach can, if nothing else, at least buy us a bit more time to do what really needs to be done.

In any case, however, I do urge you to check out their online service for solar panel effectiveness. Whatever your circumstances there may still be the chance that you could get a two for one exchange here; better energy costs as well as lowering your carbon foot print.


Are Solar Panels a Good Deal? Google's 'Project Sunroof' Expands

It's Time for Product Madness! The fun show where we spitball open source products from the hip and see what sticks to the bathroom wall of crazy profit.


First up is the Penis Cozy. Basically a strap on dildo for guys that's also a faux vagina on the inside. What you would have then is both a girth enhancer for the girth challenged that would also give hand grip fit whether or not your partner was young, and/or diligent, in kagel exercising. Could you sell a better win-win for the orgasm focused crowd?

I should add that this ought to be sold by a company called Wad Master. They would be a diversified product firm that would also sell gun mags; the top of the line being the Supremo; a clip best described as a fifty gallon drum on pneumatic tires, with the weapon swivel mounted on top. The super sized warranty package, of course, would include a Hispanic immigrant to do the reloading for you, as well as discounted long term financing for the bulk order ammo replacement. Melting barrel insurance would also be available for those in the Platinum Shaft club.

Wad Master will also seek to gain an advanced position in genetic engineering, as one might expect. The interesting thing here, though, will be the emphasis on first increasing not only the size of the male semen reservoir, but of also increasing replenishment rates as well. They are also rumored to be seeking the ability to allow for selectable replacements for sperm, with various hypnotic, euphoric and stimulant molecules that might be absorbable through the vagina. No word yet on whether any automatic vagina counter measures will be developed as well. Stay tuned though. No telling how far this profit center will take us.


Friday, January 1, 2016

Doing More of the Same Will Do What?


Reinvention. It not only has a fairly good ring to it, it is distinctly American. Famous people have been doing it, as well as major corporations, for a long time now.

Keeping that in mind you really need to ask yourself this one simple question. Doing more of the same is what got us here in the first place  Why then is there any need to make America great again?

The fact of the matter is that it is long past time to reinvent how this nation operates. From the ground up, real, comprehensive reinvention. And in that context you don't use a Model T economic operating system to run an information matrix environment; an environment where holistic integration, and complexity management are the facts of life.

The idiots you see on the right here have been selling you on simplistic certainty. Neat, resonating little audio-visual bits of blather that are the hallmark of good sloganeering. They don't commit the pitchman to much of anything concrete so that nothing of substance can actually be expected of them. Is it any wonder then that the only thing that changes is the degree to which things have gotten worse. Even when there are more jobs, and bit more money so spend on needs, or distractions, the list of what hasn't been paid for yet grows. And the final currency of payment will be denominated in pain as opposed to abstract counters.

As we start the last half of the Y2K teens let us reflect upon what must really happen if America is to lead the globe back to a better way of living. This will be something that cannot be sugar coated, or spun with diverting generalities. It will require sacrifice, difficult times, and a great deal of hard work. The alternative, however, is so far beyond imagining, in terms of pain and suffering, that one delves into it with no small amount of risk. We still have the choice to make, but even that will be taken from us eventually.