“OK,” you’re thinking “What does Ure mean this early in the morning with one of his damn strings of letters and what am I to make of it…and couldn’t this wanker just wait till I get some bean going and am at the top of my game to I can dust his feeble-headed thinking in a flash?”
Let me walk you through this since I’ve been facing some of the same issues that Clif has run into in development of the web bot project and I’m now running into in something called ULTRA2015…which is a story for a different day, except to say that munching websites may be faster without spiders using some of the hooks in Explorer, specifically:
IF TYPE(‘lox’)#’O'
lox=CREATEOBJECT(‘internetexplorer.application’)
ENDIF lox.VISIBLE=.F.
But that might really get me into the software wanker-class, so I’ll skip (reluctantly, I’ll admit) to the point:
There was a story which popped out (and was sent in by a reader) on Steve Quayle’s website here on 9.22 or 9.24 as both dates appear on the page.
If you read closely, you’ll find that this story is a republish off the Before It’s News site, with the [apparent] source story being here.
But, once again…if you sniff down to source, you find this gets a link to a page at SecretsOfTheFed.com, except the link posted really gives us a 404 – page not found – error.
So, diligent reporter that I am, and with a project codenamed Ultra2015 running on two machines are off scouring the net and finding many more such instances, I feel compelling to point out one of the possible reasons why government/authority might have a legit reason to license use of the Internet.
That comes down to simply “Too much bad stuff being passed around.”
I’ll grant you that it’s usually NOT intentional. But indeed it does happen every day.
Yesterday, for example, I got an email from a reader (no names, point is not to embarrass but to learn from his experience) who included with his very good email a graphic of a quote attributed to Thomas Jefferson:
“The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occu4r when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations.” ~Thomas Jefferson, 1816
Except, having read a good bit of Jefferson years ago, something didn’t seem right…this was linguistically flawed on the basis of the phrase “lending institutions” (a post 1960′s term) and there was something about “incorporations” which didn’t feel right. “Moneyed” might be suspect, too, but that has been spelled suchwise elsewhere.
What happened, however, was instructive. Since the reader lives in “The Oregon Autonomous Zone” I figured he wouldn’t mind a note back explaining the error of his ways. So…as he wondered if I could trust Ross Perot’s view?
“But can I trust news from the autonomous zone if the TJ quote is wrong?’ [I wondered in my reply to said reader.]
I attached a link to the Monticello.org site which explains that while Jefferson may have said things nearly like this, it was NOT a TJ quote.
So I thanked the reader, who was intellectually upstanding enough to send back a kind of “I sit corrected” kind of note and then as an afterthought I added this:
“Only reason I researched this was – after having been found and shown wrong on a previous personal favorite quote that it was dead wrong – I too had to revise my thinking. Your (alleged) quote source was better than mine (Mark Twain) but you’ve laid open an important discussion point for readers to consider.
Is there some near-journalist course of study which could legitimately be required of people using the internet?
And – if you think that some fact-checking – should be required before sending an email to more than one person (e.g. everyone on your list), should the violation of said rules result in penalties?
And, if penalties, what kinds? Simple “official notices” above which number your internet license would be suspended?
Or, should something that is pretty clearly wrong be more serious; a misdemeanor, say?
As you know, I have already asserted that malicious computing should be a felony, and intention creation or distribution of a virus or malware, or any program that eats more than 1% of processor power without the user’s knowledge and consent, should be treated on a scale from larceny (as people’s time is indeed stolen by such things) to the death penalty in most extreme cases. ”
Ideas should stand on their own legs, and misattribution, while it doesn’t seem like a big deal, can be very serious indeed over time. The evolving right-wing deification of Ronald Reagan is one example, but another one may be seen in the “He can do no wrongness” line of nonthink common among current Obama TB’ers (true believers).
Are we a nation of civil discourse on facts?
When I am working away and people send me 10-mb movie files on the most inane of subjects, or when misattributed quotes come along – intended or otherwise – this is a collective time waster. Life is too damn short, already.
So I offer high words of praise to the People of the Autonomous Zone, who should be honored to have a countryman such as you [this reader] in their midst: An intellectually honest person, able to learn when they have been misdirected and without so much ego as to continue as though facts didn’t exist.
I’m honored to know such a person myself. Why, I’d buy stock in Oregon, if I could find it.
Self-Checks versus Reality Checks
We discussed how industrial genius is trying to eliminate cashiering jobs with self-checkout stands and a reader opines this:
[you wrote] “In addition to the Droids, there were ATM’s before that, and now more stores are eliminating checkout workers opting for self-check and RFID’s,”
“Walmart tried the self check out – how do you say “stop thief” – there was so much theft – things on the bottom of the carts that were not being checked. a chain grocery store has put them in – they are seldom used – and requires one cashier to run them – bouncing from the few that do try to the next (there are four of them); I’ve seen the manager have to come out and help. sounds good – but I’m not sure it has saved them any money.
With our “government education system” kids can work a cell phone/iPad/pod or whatever and play computer games til they drop – but attend to the real things in life – not yet. and all this is moot with the end of the world – at least as we know it – coming at us between December of 12 and say June of 13. ”
Never at a loss for words, my standby catch-all comes out: We are sooooo screwed….
Speaking of Reader’s Writes
Yesterday I was hot on the Internet destroying a bazillion jobs in other ways and a reader sent this:
“Hi George, Only part way through your “column” today. I agree about the merging of Government and Business. Business is the true beneficiary of public funds rather than the down-and-out Joe Public (not Joe the Plumber, who is making hay (mixed metaphors and all).
So far you haven’t said anything about public schools. In Oklahoma, the “privatization of public schools” is well underway and will be complete (like the Death Star…can’t seem to help myself this AM).
I was stunned though not surprised to learn this and it is sickening. Being older (even than you, I think), I do remember when…… While I think like my Grandpa that the Good Ol’ Daze are just that….I remember when even the dirt poor could get their children an education and those of us (kids) who had it better, helped the teacher with those slower in class.
But now it is business and having worked the bulk of my life in business (and higher education…also a business model), it just isn’t set up to be the panacea (the great HOPE) to cure our ills.
First of all because it has a different motive. A specific motive, which I think a lot of people like and think they get a “fair shot”. Not true! This country has done it to itself and there will be a price. Unfortunately, the masses will pay the price…initially.
However, like all good hens, it will come home to roost even for the wealthy. I’ve seen that too in my life and believe it even more now….even those who “seem” to get off scot-free. Still, could we be any more short-sided and stupid? I don’t know. Humans always surprise me.”
Ergot, my nearly constant “Look surprised!” Universal shock at the me-ness of humans in these still (comparatively) bountious times reminds me of a favorite family saying:
If you can’t be generous when you don’t have money, how can you be generous when you do have some?
That “Sinking” Feeling
After Oilman2′s exposition on the brine well industry, a reader connects some dots here…
“First, I have to say I enjoy you site every day. Thank you so very much for keeping us informed. Any way, as I was reading about the sink holes and salt mines/domes etc, it made me wonder if this might play a part of the creation of lake Michigan to the Gulf water way that some have suggested and illustrated in various future maps. No need to respond.”
Oh, but I do. The Laurentide ice sheet has much to do with it. The southern sider of the country was once underwater, hence the karst and salt. So is the Midwest a sick-puppy outcome Ma Nature has in the wings? Well, we know, what goes up must come down (certain spacecraft excepted)…so yeah, maybe a trailerable sailboat is a good idea for whatever comes along up Big Muddy.
Ton of WuJo reports coming up Thursday…
Oh…and condolences to Grady (a kind of George version of Igor, perhaps?) he had to turn on his furnace up in Alberta overnight. Seasons must be changing…we’ve
Write when you break even…
George Ure (email comments to george@ure.net)
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My Unconventional Investment Plans – Part 2
In our last investing adventure we dug down into some of the longwave/macroecon subject matter, but I try to remind myself that education is no good if it doesn’t put food on the table or pay the rent. So this morning we will talk about laddering out of bonds and into stocks when the bottom gets here, but if there’s more significant downside, why laddering into bonds even at what seems like a late date might still make sense. Depending on how the market decline over the next few weeks – and into elections? – goes. First, though, we need another cuppa brew and a waller (a Texification of wallow) in the headlines before we get on to the serious business of fading the dealer.
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