Number Crunchers Are Number Crunchers No Matter What Guise They Might Appear In

You may not realize it, but these two stories have a common thread. Let me explain.

In the first story here we have another version of what "crunching numbers," just to get more numbers, can do for your profit potential; especially if you can crunch new debt into an old institutional framework, work every end you can on fees and interest charges, because you also own the companies that can do that for your new target; and then you just cost it into bankruptcy so that you can cash in, perhaps one last time, on some newly cheapened real estate.

That this might also crunch out of existence a whole community of working people, and the larger community they helped support in more ways than just providing objects to consume, in wake of it all, hardly matters to the people who benefit from this sort of thing.

In the other story you have the fear that simply crunching numbers to organize them better, and to make it easier for people to find, and use stuff, in meaningful ways, in all of the numbers, because they do represent things beyond mere count, after all: pictures. thoughts, new expressions of old problems, new understandings of old expressions of problems that still exist. We call it art. We call it science. We call it poetry, and whatall else; because in that you have the fear that not enough money is being made (even though tracking clicks has given you a great data lead in doing web advertising, in the first place). And so the demand goes out to try and crunch out more numbers by cramming in more of the stuff that the click bait artists of the "social media" sites thrive on; the habit forming, selfy-indulgent, and over manipulated, chitter-chatter, of excessively shared, properly branded, and actively purchasing, personal lives. And you end up with something that seems ever more to be nothing anybody wants.

And so another community, of sorts, gets crunched out of existence. A community of people who put some really good content (working every bit as hard as I have to do it I imagine) into Google+ (via copying things over from Google Blogs, or not, as I did). I started using it, and wanted to continue to do so, precisely for that reason (and also because Google used to be a name you could count on for stuff that just worked). Mind you, I will still be able to post what I need to post from Google Blogs, but that doesn't come across nearly as meaningfully as when you see my stuff from the "plus.google.com/+JeffVale address." To me it really was more of public speaking place. Like a virtual public square to put up something of a "booth" and "soap box," all rolled into one, to shout out what you thought was beautiful, or enchanting, or funny, or illuminating, or just very important, or whatever else. Perhaps even some criticism of your own company when it forgets itself.

It ought to break everybody's heart, to not only see another user community (with me included, because, nieve as this may be, having a trust broken hurts) treated so badly, but also the dedicated employees of a company that started out promising a lot more than just making more money than even a deity could imagine; as well as a company I think a lot of us used to depend on, at least when things started taking off with desktops, for not only finding hard to find stuff, in a newly growing, "wonder world," they created stuff that worked. But now it seems you have to be cold, and uncaring, to protect yourself from being used-hurt again. And more of that is the pitty, I can assure you.

In any case, though, so what if a crazy guy in another "social media" site is making a bit more than you? You fear you might get swallowed whole by a suddenly much bigger fish?

Maybe. Just maybe, mind you. It might be time to seriously consider that the system that presents you with all of these various contradictions, and examples of outright, outrageous immorality; maybe that system just isn't working properly any more. And that it isn't because it can't; because how could it when it wasn't designed to handle what we are now capable of doing to ourselves, the planet, and pretty much every ideal, and good notion, we've ever aspired to. The people who tried using Google+ in good faith, as well as the workers of Google, deserve better than this. It is too bad that the senior manage there doesn't see that.

But then, "deserving" has got nothing to do with it now, does it. In the end, a lot of it boils down to "you get what you believe you deserve to demand." What, exactly, do you believe you deserve to demand? Are you sure you are being fully informed as to all of your choices?

Better wake up and make up your mind while you still can.

Sears Didn’t ‘Die.’ Vulture Capitalists Killed It.

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Former Google+ designer airs his 'dirty laundry' in massive tweetstorm

The Whole Foundation Of What Work Has Been Built Up To Be

Has changed. And it has done so with truly futuristic, fantasticality. How many times do you need to see the Boston Robotics Parkour Robot doing obstacle jumping to understand this.

And do not think that this applies only to California. It might have a bigger impact there than most other places, but the point remains: The governors of other states will be facing much the same problems.

Isn't it interesting, however, how jobs, the economy that creates those jobs, and the idiots now supposedly in charge of overseeing it, work together, or not, to have such an impact on not only our social environments, but the one big one we all live in.

That should tell you something.

What it should tell you is this: Everything is interconnected. Even the entire cosmos of infinite numbers of the different, experience association vectors, that we like to call realities, leak all over the place; transferring information like you'd have to have a belief, in order to believe it (because you certainly won't ever be able to objectively measure anywhere even close to all of it).

It does that because everything is semi permeable, because boundary is just so darn relative. And because of that solutions to problems must also be highly integrated with all of the other systems, that the system requiring the soluting, interacts with. At least to some degree of practicality with what you have to work with of course. But also with the counterbalancing connection to the language of love, and creation, that we've lost sight of for far too long now.

Honest to both higher powers, and higher purposes, folks, that is the way it is. And I am just trying to help guide you. It will always be your choice of course, because choice, too, is now something very fundamental. This is why informed choice becomes so much more important once a meaning processor species reaches a pivot point, like we have now, in our evolution.

What will you choose to do?

Millions of Californians’ jobs could be affected by automation — a scenario the next governor has to address

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Geoengineering Might Be More Palatable If It Involved Much Less Invasive Methods

A notion that harkens back to my contention that, if you intend to dial an effect up to influence, one would hope temporarily, the amount of sunlight striking the surface, you should also have a way to dial it back down again; on an at least a reasonably, timely, basis.

This is why it is my belief that very large, lighter than air constructs would be the way to proceed. And as approaches to that sort of thing go, using my idea of segmented lift columns (to lift the weight of the guy wiring) utilizing the simple lifting primitive of a doughnut shaped enclosure (to contain the lift gas bladders), is ideal for that; both because they represent easy to construct assembly modules (the doughnut itself, as well as the sparse weaved, tube sock type of connecting pipe that would go from center hole to center hole of one doughnut to the next) but also because the idea here would be to simply create a floating, flexible mat at the very top of an array of such segmented, support tubes. A mat that can then support both reflectors, and solar collectors; which themselves might be made to be shuttered, so to speak, as needed, and opened when the need lessens.

Setting up the infrastructure to assemble, deliver, and support such large constructs, on the other hand is not so simple. Not so simple from a standpoint of material supply. From the standpoint of delivery logistics. Nor of initial assembly. All because you would have to be able to make these on at least the basis of mile on a side cubes, or something nearly that, and have them flown (this is where my Hybrid Dirigible Blimp units come into play) to where they would be assembled in place, stacking as you go.

The other nice benefit here is that you may well also be able to cover that "sparsely weaved tube sock", where desired, so as to use it as an actual pipe; a heat pipe in fact, bringing cold air down from high altitude, because you might also be able to put electric fans in the center holes of the lift doughnuts.

That being said, though, doesn't preclude either the very challenging engineering required to tie these segmented columns into cubes of whatever size, nor the previously mentioned supply, delivery, and construction problems. And make no mistake, these will be considerable.

This is just part of the reason why it is so important to start mobilizing the country now. To start setting up to do the many, "Three Gorges Dams" sized projects that this would only be one of.

After all, we will need the hemp, or whatever other natural fiber we can grow, to capture carbon, and then use to build the vast array of sea based Yen Tornado, Wind Turbines, as well as the floating habitat structures, and the floating seawalls to protect them, for all of the people who will come to live in the new floating cities, to support all of of the Hydrogen production we will need to power our new efforts, but also, quite likely, to help provide the truly massive amounts of lift gas we will need beyond just helium (using hydrogen only, perhaps, at the altitudes where the likelihood of combustion starts becoming minimal).

And then there will be all of the new desalination plants (or other alternatives because dealing with the salt will become an issue too) we will need. And all of the vast new piping to get it where it is needed; making things grow where they have never grown before (and perhaps also then tackling the hidden reservoirs of Methane, as in Siberia to get new living space, and prevent more bad, greenhouse gas inputs). And then the further sea based construction of a Hyper tube, under water, suspended tunnel, with which to do the truly industrial sized through-puts (I used to think that 100 tons a launch, every hour, 24/7 would do it, but now I think we'd need something more on the order of 500 to 1000 tons, every hour, 24/7) we will need in getting things launched to the new, Lunar Transfer station we will also have to build; because we'll need that to support the massive lunar cities we will also need to build; so that follow on habitat construction can begin for the huge number of Dyson, Pinky Finger Rings (as opposed to full Dyson rings, or spheres), starting perhaps with the diameter of the moon as a size standard, and getting to the diameter of the earth once we get the bugs out; with these ring habitats then spaced evenly in orbits around the sun.

So much to do and so little time left to get it done. It is truly time to wake the hell up and get started here. To put our differences aside for awhile for a higher purpose: The Very Survival of our species, as well as the rest of life on this planet. Is that not worth whatever difficulty we encounter along the way? Is there any way any of us can morally ignore this call to action? Can even a Higher Power ignore this need?

A last-ditch global warming fix -- A man-made 'volcanic' eruption

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The Mutually Exacerbating Contradictions Of Electrified Capitalism

The peasants should be able to buy things, right? Or maybe not?

IPOs as an investment process are good for the economy, right? Or maybe Not?

Interest Free Money Is Over because it should be over, right? Or maybe not?

And you should park your money into something safe, with a decent return, right? Or maybe Not?

And just because we keep doing silly things (poisoning natural, trade, and social environments, to the point of "usque ad vomitum satiata est ad mortem")  with all of the many complex systems we've been created by, as well as the ones we've created for ourselves, it's no big deal in the long run, right? Or Maybe not?

It's nice to think that the peasants should be able to buy things. Pesky part about that, though, is figuring out who gets stuck with the bill to pay for that largess. But wait a second... Isn't money just information now? No? Are you really certain about that?

IPOs always used to be a good deal. It really was a Democratization of productive factors to a significant degree. But then people like the Zuck, or the Mighty Musk, wouldn't have access to all of their individual rights to run things into the ground. as all the Higher Powers, or Higher Purposes, gave them the manifest destiny to do, as they see fit. And there are a lot of pretenders out there for that role. And not only do they all so value keeping their information to themselves, as you might imagine they would be, as they do their work, in secret, they just can't help but end up doing things in diametric opposition, at least on a fairly recurring basis, to the efforts of most of the rest of the stakeholders, in this ever burgeoning, cluster intercourse of chaos.

And lastly, as ought to be obvious now, money isn't just information anymore. It has, in fact, become as electrons themselves; becoming almost another elemental intent all its own, only in this instance it is bent on only two things: to remove all restive obstacles, and keep accelerating to the full potential of the speed of light. None of which, of course, is very helpful if you just want to live a life that has a chance of balancing love, and practicality, so that ever increasingly complex, lovingly practical, and practically loving, structure can be made to be a part of all life prospering into the future.

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The Death of the IPO

Dow drops 800-plus points as bond yields fuel stocks' worst day in several months

Strong Indications That Money Is Now Like Electrons In Electrical Circuits

Because now you can see that we are in a situation where, if money can be more directly converted to information, and especially electrified information (or information can be more directly converted to money), in the sense of simply "crunching numbers to get more numbers;" something I've been talking about for some time now; you can see now that those sectors (information tech and finance) of the economy thus blessed are growing very rapidly, delivering the best profit margins, whereas most of the other areas are not.

Unfortunately, living beings need things that are a bit more substantial as well and, as you can see in the graph below, those sectors of the economy that make, and do, things of substance, aren't fairing nearly as well as one might hope they would... Well, assuming of course that all of us folks involved actually want to continue living you understand. Details details, right?

It's also disturbing to note that it is with information, and its control, that despots, and authoritarian governments, stay in power. And of course, how else could it be when money is both motivator, and the means to make people believe in whatever reality you want them to believe in.

Neat trick, hugh? Not so survivable any more though. Not in the long run, which in today's measurement of time (because the electrons want always to move faster) is not a very long run to come at all.

This Data Visualization Shows What's Really Responsible For Our Current Bull Market

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Tech Workers Now Want to Know -- What Are We Building This For?

Don't You Think They Are All Related?

The ability of a privilaged few, and mostly men, to rape this planet; to treat woman like they were supposed to be nothing more than compliant, self propelled vaginas; and that they can do that because, in large part, money and power go together like... Well, like the sense the privilaged have that ordinary rules of decency, and morality, don't apply to them in the first place.

In my opinion they are related. And a lot of it goes back to the notion of how the natural divinity of the feminine power of creation was quite likely trashed in one of the first acts of brutal information war in human history, a long time ago. And also, in my opinion, you can't have proper balance in life if you do not recognize that natural Feminine divinity as a "Higher Purpose.", along with the divinity of a "Higher Power."

Just think about it, will you. And try to remember that real empathy comes from the ability to apply disciplined used of heartfelt concern; which basically means to me that both sides of this dichotomy must work together, once again, to makes things better for all of the wondrously interwoven, complex systems, that make up life, and existence, in this reality. And if we do not find a way to negotiate, and compromise, towards this balance again we are all doomed.

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The FBI investigation into Kavanaugh didn't bring Dr. Ford justice. Sexual assault survivors like me aren't surprised.

Why are so few US politicians from the working class?

A Case Of The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

Let's be clear here. Increasing basic pay to a base of $15 an hour, for so many, will be a good thing. At least until the next crisis hits us, and our economy. Especially in this economy; the one that is hotting up because money now must act like electrons in electrical circuits (always seeking the path of least resistance, not wanting to ever sit still, and always wanting to go faster), making labor temporarily a more competitive commodity than it has been for quite some time now. As such it will put more pressure on other employers to pay a more competitive wage. And that too, will be a good thing. At least, as I've indicated, until the next crisis hits us, as one surely will.

The bad part is to read way too much into what one employer does, in a vastly complicated, and interwoven economy, both here, and on the world stage; even if he's a very large employer. Or that how only $15 an hour could be considered a truly living wage, because it is not. Though it could certainly be a good start on a better trend, if it were truly meant to be continued.

What troubles me here, though, is what might be lurking on the "Ugly" side of things. The kind of ugly you can't help but contemplate with a businessman not known for a lot of social compassion in the past. And in this I'm talking about a possible scenario you also can't help but contemplate. The one where this is nothing but a very clever public relations ploy.

And the way this would work is very simple indeed. You already know how much Bezos has invested in automating every aspect he can with warehouse work, only now that will proceed with a bit more incentive; looking at it from the perspective of the kind of cost consciousness that this man has always been noted for. So the real question here is how long do you think he's really setting himself up to have to pay this extra largess. Especially when you already know just how intolerant of worker restiveness, and unions, he's already demonstrated himself to be.

The bottom line here will be to watch his company's overall employment makeup in the next few years and see just how many $15 an hour jobs he keeps the company dependant on. Don't be surprised if it turns out to not be that many at all. And this will all be apace with truckers being replaced, and cashiers being replaced, Bank Tellers, etc, etc, etc. Again assuming that the pace of one disaster after another, on our march to jump off a final cliff, doesn't also start increasing.

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This Startup Automates Warehouses

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