Thursday, November 30, 2023
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Saturday, November 25, 2023
Who Is Yasmin Finney? Doctor Who's Rose Noble Explained
As much as I enjoyed the new Doctor Who Special, I didn't realize that the daughter character is played by a dude. There is a hint in the show that this character is transgender, but the hint goes by so fast I missed it.
https://thedirect.com/article/doctor-who-yasmin-finney-rose-noble-explained
https://thedirect.com/article/doctor-who-yasmin-finney-rose-noble-explained
Friday, November 24, 2023
The M3 iMac Isn't for me (or you...)
Apple's iMac strategy doesn't make sense. The iMac used to be a top-of-the-line computer, but now they want you to buy a Mac Studio with a separate display that costs as much as an iMac.
As far as the iMac is concerned, there is no way I would go from a gorgeous 27-inch 5K display to a 24-inch 4K display. The smaller iMac is not intended for pro users. It would make a good family computer, but the lack of x86 compatibility is a serious drawback.
The M3 Pro chip benchmarks are almost the same as the Ryzen 9 7940hs computer I paid just $640 for. The base model M3 iMac starts at $1299.
Apple can only charge so much because, for some unfathomable reason, people are still buying their products.
Tuesday, November 21, 2023
Monday, November 20, 2023
Why Socialism Always Fails
A pyramid scheme is ultimately unsustainable because it is based on faulty principles. Likewise, collectivism is unsustainable in the long run because it is a flawed theory. Socialism does not work because it is not consistent with fundamental principles of human behavior. The failure of socialism in countries around the world can be traced to one critical defect: it is a system that ignores incentives.
Meanwhile, you have food lines under socialism.
Socialists point to a false sense of victimhood.
Yet, nobody starves to death under a free market. There are many programs, public and private, to help the poor and there is an abundance of food.
Meanwhile, you have food lines under socialism.
Elbert Hubbard
"Prison is an example of a Socialist's Paradise, where equality prevails, everything is supplied and competition is eliminated."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbert_Hubbard
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbert_Hubbard
Sunday, November 19, 2023
Saturday, November 18, 2023
Biden promised China to kill our fossil fuels
U.S. energy experts are warning of the economic and national security implications of President Biden's pact with China this week to move towards shutting down fossil fuel production in favor of green energy.
The State Department announced this week it had struck a deal with its Chinese counterparts pledging to "accelerate the substitution for coal, oil and gas generation" with green energy sources like wind and solar power. The nations, which account for nearly half of global greenhouse gas emissions, also agreed to "deepen policy exchanges" on reducing carbon emissions in various sectors, like power, industry, buildings and transportation, across their economies.
But the agreement — in which the nations further pledged to "sufficiently accelerate renewable energy deployment in their respective economies through 2030" — was criticized over its potential impact on U.S. consumers. Experts also noted that China has rarely followed through on international accords and stands to financially benefit from such an agreement since it controls much of the world's green energy supply chain.
"The agreement speaks heavily about advancing — doubling down and tripling down on renewables, wind and solar. The majority of them are made in China," Daniel Turner, the founder and executive director of Power The Future, told Fox News Digital in an interview.
"The agreement speaks heavily about advancing — doubling down and tripling down on renewables, wind and solar. The majority of them are made in China," Daniel Turner, the founder and executive director of Power The Future, told Fox News Digital in an interview
"So, you're basically writing an agreement that guarantees China a customer and guarantees their manufacturing sector decades of purchasing. Of course China would love this agreement. And their obligations — they'll just ignore that. They've ignored every other obligation," Turner added. "It is basically guaranteeing China decades of wealth, guaranteeing America is going to buy their products."
The agreement was finalized during Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry's meeting with Chinese Special Envoy for Climate Change Xie Zhenhua in Sunnylands, California, last week. And it came shortly before Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco.
"The cooperative initiatives outlined by State Department will create make-work for bureaucrats, subsidies for rent-seekers, photo ops for local politicians, and new opportunities for Chinese agents of influence and industrial spies," Competitive Enterprise Institute senior fellow Marlo Lewis told Fox News Digital.
Experts warn Biden's agreement with China to shut down fossil fuels will harm Americans | Fox News
The State Department announced this week it had struck a deal with its Chinese counterparts pledging to "accelerate the substitution for coal, oil and gas generation" with green energy sources like wind and solar power. The nations, which account for nearly half of global greenhouse gas emissions, also agreed to "deepen policy exchanges" on reducing carbon emissions in various sectors, like power, industry, buildings and transportation, across their economies.
But the agreement — in which the nations further pledged to "sufficiently accelerate renewable energy deployment in their respective economies through 2030" — was criticized over its potential impact on U.S. consumers. Experts also noted that China has rarely followed through on international accords and stands to financially benefit from such an agreement since it controls much of the world's green energy supply chain.
"The agreement speaks heavily about advancing — doubling down and tripling down on renewables, wind and solar. The majority of them are made in China," Daniel Turner, the founder and executive director of Power The Future, told Fox News Digital in an interview.
"The agreement speaks heavily about advancing — doubling down and tripling down on renewables, wind and solar. The majority of them are made in China," Daniel Turner, the founder and executive director of Power The Future, told Fox News Digital in an interview
"So, you're basically writing an agreement that guarantees China a customer and guarantees their manufacturing sector decades of purchasing. Of course China would love this agreement. And their obligations — they'll just ignore that. They've ignored every other obligation," Turner added. "It is basically guaranteeing China decades of wealth, guaranteeing America is going to buy their products."
The agreement was finalized during Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry's meeting with Chinese Special Envoy for Climate Change Xie Zhenhua in Sunnylands, California, last week. And it came shortly before Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco.
"The cooperative initiatives outlined by State Department will create make-work for bureaucrats, subsidies for rent-seekers, photo ops for local politicians, and new opportunities for Chinese agents of influence and industrial spies," Competitive Enterprise Institute senior fellow Marlo Lewis told Fox News Digital.
Experts warn Biden's agreement with China to shut down fossil fuels will harm Americans | Fox News
Friday, November 17, 2023
This Is Easily the Most Important Speech Jordan Peterson Has Ever Done
I differ from Peterson in that we cannot reliably assume the supernatural. There are many different opinions on what the divine means, so we cannot reliably assume that a higher power has expectations of us.
We live in a society where we think that people should be good, but not all cultures share this view, or they disagree on what good means. However, we think that societies work better when people aren't cruel, cooperate with each other, and show compassion.
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There are different ways to interpret Jordan Peterson's comments.
People often associate Perterson with the political right because he tells people to take responsibility for their lives, which is part of the point of his speech. He rose to fame by arguing against more extreme leftist ideology.
However, he describes himself as leaning liberal, although I am not sure of what he means by that.
To some extent, his speech sounds like a far-left utopian ideal, because he says if we just sacrifice our lives for others then there is no goal that we can't achieve. We can end absolute poverty, have a shining city on a hill, and achieve our personal pinnacle.
I'm sure that the path to Utopia is a little more complicated than that.
---
The best speech I have heard Jordan Peterson give is this one...
He speaks at such a high level, it forces me to pay close attention to keep up.
Wednesday, November 15, 2023
The Full Rand Paul: On Covid, the Lab Leak, and Anthony Fauci
0 seconds ago
This comes across as a conspiracy theory. If there was something to this then there would be indictments already.
I see a problem in Rand Paul's logic. If I am wrong I would like to know because this is such an important issue. The NIH gave the Eco Health Alliance $3.4 million to study the risk of coronaviruses from bats. The Eco Health Alliance gave $600,000 to the Wuhan lab, reportedly to catalog bat viruses. I read everything I could about this, and the grant had nothing to do with gain of function.
However, the Wuhan lab may have been doing Gain of Function Research, so Rand Paul claims that the NIH funded Gain of Function Research at Wuhan. Apparently, it wasn't on our dime, so I don't think that you can blame Fauci for it.
Friday, November 10, 2023
My biggest fear for Star Wars... and it seems likely to happen
@john2001plus
1 second ago
To put Star Wars in context, in 1977 I was 17 years old. We were living during the Cold War, where the Soviet Union could be viewed as the Evil Empire, while the fight against the Nazis during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War didn't seem like ancient history, but were still relevant in our minds. The thought of nuclear annihilation also felt like a very real possibility.
We were going through the worst economic decade of my lifetime. Some people might look at the events that followed 2008 as being the worst, but the American economy was much more robust in 2008 and able to eventually rebound. However, the 1970s was just one piece of bad news after another. The country felt like it was in a giant malaise.
Then came Star Wars in 1977, which to my 17-year-old mind felt like a godsend. It was a metaphor for a hopeful battle against all the evils that plagued us.
Star Wars became an important part of my life, and it influenced my career toward computers and video game development. To this day, Star Wars feels like a part of my personality.
At my more advanced age of 63, I notice how violent Star Wars is. This didn't seem like much of an issue in 1977 when the characters were fighting Space Nazis, because the 1970s felt like an existential struggle against the forces of evil. For example, Star Wars calls light sabers an elegant weapon, but how elegant is cutting people in half or cutting their heads off? It would be like calling a battle axe an elegant weapon.
All this makes me wonder how relevant Star Wars is to our current time? The 20th century was by far the most violent in history, which made mechanized murder on a mass scale feel more normal. I think that there was less regard for the individual, which is something we take to extreme levels today.
I feel far less threatened by outside forces today than I did after 9-11, or in the 60s, the 70s, and the 80s.
We can still fantasize about a struggle for survival between good and evil, but good and evil in the modern world are less distinct from one another.
This makes me think that Star Wars has to change to remain relevant. The original movie gave us 1970s characters in a futuristic setting. The recent series Andor did a great job of giving us modern characters in the same setting and feels more relevant to the time we live in.
Best wishes,
John Coffey
Thursday, November 9, 2023
Wednesday, November 8, 2023
The Hostility of the Left and the Arab World Toward Israel (and Why You Should Care)
It is a mistake to say that Hitler and other Fascists were far-right. The Nazis were socialist at least in name. Mussolini started as a Communist and a Marxist. Mussolini's slogan: "Everything in the state nothing outside of the state." American leftists adored Mussolini before the war. After the war, the big lie was that these people were somehow associated with the right.
In the United States, there are hate groups that call themselves right-wing. These people are few in number and don't represent the political right.
Abortion Rights Fuel Big Democratic Wins, and Hopes for 2024 - The New York Times
'Historically, re-elections have been referendums on the incumbent president and his leadership. Democrats are hoping to transform the 2024 contest into something different — an election that revolves not around the present occupant of the White House but around the previous one, Mr. Trump, and his party's embrace of abortion bans that are out of step with a majority of voters.
Already, Democrats have launched plans to use referendums, like the one that passed in Ohio, as a way to energize their base in 2024. There are efforts underway to get such measures on the ballot in swing states including Arizona, Florida, Nevada and Pennsylvania. For his part, Mr. Biden's campaign released an early ad highlighting Mr. Trump's support for overturning Roe.
"Abortion is the No. 1 issue in the 2024 campaign," Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, a Democrat who gave money to support both the Ohio ballot measure and the Virginia legislative contests, said in an interview on Tuesday. "If you're not talking about protecting women's reproductive rights as a Democrat, you're not doing it right."'
Already, Democrats have launched plans to use referendums, like the one that passed in Ohio, as a way to energize their base in 2024. There are efforts underway to get such measures on the ballot in swing states including Arizona, Florida, Nevada and Pennsylvania. For his part, Mr. Biden's campaign released an early ad highlighting Mr. Trump's support for overturning Roe.
"Abortion is the No. 1 issue in the 2024 campaign," Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, a Democrat who gave money to support both the Ohio ballot measure and the Virginia legislative contests, said in an interview on Tuesday. "If you're not talking about protecting women's reproductive rights as a Democrat, you're not doing it right."'
If this is a big issue for the Democrats, then it is also a big issue for the Republicans. However, if this is true, then the left can make the election about something other than Biden's performance in office.
Tuesday, November 7, 2023
Sunday, November 5, 2023
Saturday, November 4, 2023
Friday, November 3, 2023
The Mind
"The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Thursday, November 2, 2023
Civilization in Decline
I think that we are a civilization in decline. Do I need to explain why? You could think of a dozen reasons.
The biggest problem is our National Debt, exceeding our capacity to repay. This has led to a debasement of our currency, making everyone poorer.
Culturally we have been destroying ourselves from within over petty squabbles.
The political class appears to be very corrupt.
We are involved in conflicts that could, although unlikely, lead to World War III. Multiple countries oppose us.
Best wishes,
John Coffey
http://www.entertainmentjourney.com
John Coffey
http://www.entertainmentjourney.com
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