It's nicer in the original French, and more subtle: Chacun voit midi à sa porte. It means that everyone sees everything from their own point of view. Adam Smith understood the concept. People have a foremost interest in their own affairs, and see everything in relation to their own worldview, wants, and desires. In commerce, it leads to the generation of wealth whenever a willing buyer and a willing seller get together. In politics, it leads to harridans testifying that someone looked at them funny thirty-five years ago.
I freely acknowledge that my doorstep has a very different noon than my neighbors. When I was younger, I found eccentricity in others piquant. Now I'm the eccentric, I guess. But I can't help noticing, as I search for news stories for you fine folks here at Maggie's Farm, that it's always the same noon in every news outlet on the planet. I also can't help noticing that their noon is my midnight.
On to the links!
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen dies of cancer at age 65
Allen ranked among the world's wealthiest individuals. As of Monday afternoon, he ranked 44th on Forbes' 2018 list of billionaires with an estimated net worth of more than $20 billion.
After the game, the pawn and the king go in the same box.
Afternoon sex and the pursuit of poetry.Peter Thonemann on why Homer has always mattered so much
Deep into late antiquity, the Homeric epics, like the King James Bible in Georgian and Victorian England, “offered a shared language which could be activated at all levels of literate culture in the expectation that an audience would understand”. Early Byzantine subsistence farmers, who neither knew nor cared about the glories of classical Athens, still saw Homer as “the Poet” par excellence. For well over a millennium, the Iliad and Odyssey formed the basis of literate education for Greek-speakers everywhere from the Rhône to the Tigris.
Ripping yarns never go stale. Ask Joe Campbell
Macron reshuffles cabinet, names ruling party chief interior minister
The reshuffle is an attempt to steady his administration after a series of resignations, and revive a reform drive that has shown signs of flagging. Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who has spearheaded Macron's eurozone reform push, and Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian retained their posts.
Petit a petit, l’oiseau fait son nid.
Walmart Plans Competitor to Amazon’s Video Marketplace
The idea would be to let customers of Walmart’s video service, Vudu, pay for additional services like HBO Now, Showtime or Starz. The discussions are still exploratory, and Walmart’s plans may change. The retail giant is trying to convert its hundreds of millions of customers into users of online services, responding to changes in how those customers watch TV.
Everyone watches TV in their pajamas, and shops at Walmart in their pajamas, so this would be a perfect fit.
Bezos defends Amazon effort for Pentagon cloud project
Bezos was asked about his position on defense contracts after Google dropped its bid for the Pentagon cloud computing contract worth up to $10 billion because it would be inconsistent with its principles. "We are going to continue to support the DoD," he said, referring to the Defense Department. "If big tech companies are going to turn their back on the US Department of Defense this country is going to be in trouble."
You know, it tipped from opposition to insurrection on day one. Ask Steve Scalise. Bezos just like money. I guess Google figures China will pay more. Speaking of which...
Google is working on a new search engine code-named "Dragonfly" that will aid China's effort to censor information from its citizenry.
The other thing I find disturbing, after all these years, is the willingness of my former colleagues to not only comply with the censorship but their enthusiasm in rationalizing it. It is not a coincidence that the rationale they give was the same one management had given them. As Blaise Pascal trenchantly observed in Pensées, *power creates opinion*. This is just as true within corporations as it is for national politics.
Ils ne sont pas des traîtres. iIs sont de l'autre côté.
A Genocide Incited on Facebook, With Posts From Myanmar’s Military
The Facebook posts were not from everyday internet users. Instead, they were from Myanmar military personnel who turned the social network into a tool for ethnic cleansing, according to former military officials, researchers and civilian officials in the country.
I'm sure everyone working at Facebook will resign in protest over this dastardly use of their product, such as it is. This is my "sure" face.
‘Hyperalarming’ study shows massive insect loss
In 2014, an international team of biologists estimated that, in the past 35 years, the abundance of invertebrates such as beetles and bees had decreased by 45 percent. In places where long-term insect data are available, mainly in Europe, insect numbers are plummeting. A study last year showed a 76 percent decrease in flying insects in the past few decades in German nature preserves.
Fewer bugs? Your definition of hyperalarming and mine varies considerably. Chacun voit midi à sa porte.
The Prophets of Cryptocurrency Survey the Boom and Bust
The surge in the price of bitcoin, and of other cryptocurrencies, which proliferated amid a craze for initial coin offerings (I.C.O.s), prompted a commensurate explosion in the number of stories and conversations about this new kind of money and, sometimes more to the point, about the blockchain technology behind it—this either revolutionary or needlessly laborious way of keeping track of transactions and data.
I don't see noon on the cryptocurrency doorstep.
Hostility to men and elderly people could become hate crimes
Last month, it was announced that a review by the Law Commission would look at whether offences driven by misogyny - dislike, contempt or ingrained prejudice against women - should be treated as hate crimes. And now it's emerged the same review will also consider the opposite - crimes motivated by misandry - hostility towards men. Ageism and hatred of certain alternative cultures, such as Goths or punks, could also be included in future.
Punks? L’habit ne fait pas le moine. I'm sure, as always, women and minorities will be hardest hit by this law. Although, isn't it cruel to be nice to goths and punks? It cheers them up. They hate that.
Well, that's Tuesday's slate. Be sure to describe the angle of the sun on your stoop in the comments.
