Tuesday, September 25. 2018
Aka "The 80-20 Rule" aka The Matthew Effect (from the parable of the talents).
Much as we might wish that most things fit Gaussian "normal" distributions because it's easy to visualize, they do not. Some college-level math underpins the Pareto distribution, but more interesting than the income and wealth distributions it describes are all of the other psychological (including intelligence), geological, and other natural effects which it predicts.
Do we have a Pareto expert among our readers?
 For the sake of any college friends who are reading, this is not about Spare Change, the guy who stood on the corner down on M Street. Though I'm sure he was very familiar with Carlo Rossi, this story takes place about 25 years later.
Today in the Morning New links, Bird Dog led off with an article about spare change. I don't know if Mrs. Bulldog told him the story about our spare change jug, but I know Mrs. Bird Dog heard it. Bird Dog was present in the Mohonk Mountain House parking lot when I picked up a dime, handed it to Mrs. Bulldog and said "Look, 10 Paris."
Spare change has some history in our family. About 11 years ago, I'd had a poker game in my basement and someone brought a jug of Carlo Rossi. You know, the good stuff in the big jug, with the finger handle on the neck.
Continue reading "Spare Change"
Monday, September 24. 2018
That's what England's Daniel Hannan is wondering.
What Hannan is missing, I think, is that it is just the MSM that is troubled - and the Dems, of course.
I agree with most of Bird Dog's review of The Labyrinth. In the comments you'll see I'd take task on the over-40 commentary. A good gym regimen is enough to keep you going and the fact one of our group did the scramble with a new hip says much about will as it does skill or fitness (admittedly, she runs marathons with that new hip, so she's not lacking in fitness). You DO need to be in shape. A good number of us emerged without our jackets, soaked in sweat. Those two fellows waiting at the top of Lemon Squeeze (both in late 20's, early 30's) were laughing in part from our dialogue, but also at the surprise of seeing a group of nine people aged 55+ emerging from that space. If you remember The Phantom Tollbooth, it pays to be Canby, as well. I can be young, I can be strong, I can be tall, I can be small. Be what you can be. It pays off in the scramble.
Hiking and some mountain climbing (my 2 experiences with rappelling were in New Mexico when I was 14), from my Boy Scout days, provided an edge. Mrs. Bulldog has only taken on hiking recently, though she does quite a bit of walking around town. Her 4 experiences of this sort of activity are limited to a climb up Quail Mountain at Joshua Tree with me in 2012, the Labyrinth, and our two previous hikes with Bird Dog and Mrs. Bird Dog.
More below the fold, with photos -
Continue reading "My Class Report on Mohonk"
 NY TIMES WANTS TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR HIGH SCHOOL SEX LIFE
No rape attempts on my part. My biggest problem was that the girls could not keep their hands off me. Teen girls are very horny critters.
A defense of obesity, at HuffPo
Women warriors: The Ranger School conspiracy
Should Pluto be a planet again? New study reignites contentious debate
Just words
Yale Study: Twice as Many Undocumented Immigrants as Previously Thought in U.S.
Polygraph tests don't work as lie detectors and they never have
What Is Hillary Clinton Thinking?
Is Rod Rosenstein Leading the Resistance?
Everybody in Washington is resistance
Trump Calls Out Violent Liberal Antifa Protesters: Guys With Tiny Biceps Living in Mom and Dad’s Basement
'Flee the country’? WaPo report about Christine Blasey Ford’s trauma over Kavanaugh (AND Trump) dials it up a notch
Dershowitz GOES OFF on Christine Ford’s Outrageous Demands: “Every Civil Libertarian Should Be Outraged!… IT IS INSANE!”
Another dubious accusation
THE FBI IN NOMINEE AMBUSH CASES, THEN AND NOW
Haley: We’re Not Going to Pay for Reconstruction of Syria As Long As There Is Iranian Influence There
Sunday, September 23. 2018
Photo is one of the easy sections.
I need to revise anything I said about Mohonk's Labyrinth scramble. It's not doable by the average person. I suspect very few people I know over 40 could handle the challenge. We were the only people we saw attempting it who had some grey hair - the only people over 40 for sure.
In fact, I had a great sense of accomplishment after getting through the Lemon Squeeze up towards the top of Skytop. Proud of myself.
We wondered how they cleaned up the bodies of those who slipped and fell, or got stuck and died of starvation. Must be a special clean-up crew.
Continue reading "Labyrinth Report"
Just pick any one of them and give it a try. I have listed to the one on Walker Percy, on Job, and on Brave New World.
It's a keeper site for me.
At Quillette, The Preachers of the Great Awokening
... antithetical to the stated goals of Wokeness is the tendency of its most popular preachers to castigate sinners instead of calmly attempting to persuade them of the justness of the Woke doctrine. Antithetical, but perfectly comprehensible from a signaling perspective. Those who are Woke don’t really want to inhabit an entirely Woke world without the bigoted masses; instead, they want to occupy a world of good and evil, of the just and the wicked, of the high status and the low status, of the elite and hoi polloi. The Woke faithful almost certainly do believe that the world is unjust, even wicked, and they almost certainly do sincerely want to ameliorate the suffering of its victims. However, they also want to signal their membership to an elite and morally righteous club, and therefore they need an out-group, a foil, a morally wicked other for contrast. And, they can’t let just any kind-hearted person into their club, because then it would lose its exclusivity. So they must develop a strenuous vetting system, one that is vigilant and suspicious and quick to detect sin.
James 3:13 - 4:3, 7-8a
3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.
3:14 But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth.
3:15 Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish.
3:16 For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.
3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.
3:18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.
4:1 Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you?
4:2 You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask.
4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.
4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
Saturday, September 22. 2018
Useful info: Although the terms are often used interchangeably, drying and curing paint are not the same. It only takes hours for both latex and oil-based paints to dry, but it can take days or even weeks for paint to completely cure.
Drying is just evaporation. Curing is a slow chemical process, as with cement.
Related, When do you need a primer coat?
Punishment for what?
In short, James Comey, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page have all said or implied that the FBI had nothing linking Trump to Russia. Which, as John Solomon concluded last week, raises the question: If there was no concrete evidence of collusion, why did we need a special prosecutor?
I assume the prosecutor was to handcuff Trump. Didn't work, thus far. Honey Badger doesn't give a shit.
Gladiator Diets Were Carb-Heavy, Fattening, and Mostly Vegetarian
Archaeologists Find Spectacular Iron Age Treasure in Denmark
Is there a duty to die at age 75?
Stopping Exercise Increases Depression Symptoms, Study Finds
City Journal: The Future of the Nation - A historical description—and intellectual defense—of nationalism
The Word “Problematic” Declared Problematic
Student Editor Who Retweeted “Women Don’t Have Penises” Story Fired From University Journal
Another Aide To NY Governor Gets Six Years In Prison
GOOGLE EMPLOYEES SOUGHT TO MANIPULATE SEARCH RESULTS TO FIGHT TRUMP’S TRAVEL BAN: REPORT
Schweizer: Stalin, Hitler, Mao 'Would Dream About' Google's Power Over Our Thoughts
Rod Rosenstein, quit!
DEMOCRATS: WE ALREADY KNOW KNOW KAVANAUGH IS GUILTY
Due process, presumption of innocence do not apply to Kavanaugh
He is accused of a violent sexual assault
Only 5% Of MN Democrats “Believe The Woman” When It Comes To Ellison
Someone Who Really Did Paw a 15-Year-Old: Cory Booker
It’s like having an argument with your crazy girlfriend: the latest from Ford
Christine Ford Adviser Told Democrats in July Call About Plot to Take Down Kavanaugh
The Foggy, Foggy Dew (by Anon)
When I was a bachelor I lived all alone
And I worked at the weaver's trade,
And the only, only thing that I ever did wrong
Was to woo a fair young maid.
I wooed her in the wintertime
And in the summer too,
And the only thing that I ever did wrong
Was to keep her from the foggy foggy dew.
One night she came to my bedside
When I was fast asleep,
She flung her arms around my neck
And she began to weep.
She wept, she cried, she damn near died,
She said "What can I do?"
So I rolled her into bed and covered up her head
Just to keep her from the foggy foggy dew.
O I am a bachelor, I live with my son
And we work at the weaver's trade,
And every single time that I look into his eyes
He reminds me of that fair young maid.
He reminds me of the wintertime
And of the summer too,
And of the many, many times I held her in my arms
To keep her from the foggy foggy dew.
Friday, September 21. 2018
While cleaning out books, found a fine old Thurber collection. Thurber was a fine New Yorker semi-comedy writer, but his toons were plain charming.
I want to re-read lots of these books before I toss them in the dumpster. Including Master and Margarita.
Rosenstein Suggested He Secretly Record Trump and Discussed 25th Amendment
"If you want a friend in Washington, buy a dog." Trump has no friends there. And where is Sessions?
A few simple rules to detect the stench of dubious but published psychological studies
The "Taleb's Grandma" Rule is useful. Example:
Psychologist: You see, Taleb’s grandma, there’s a clear link between washing your hands and justifying album-ranking choices.
Taleb’s Grandma:"> What the fuck are you talking about?
SCIENCE: THE CULTURAL POLITICS OF GLUTEN
Tech gurus don’t let their kids have smartphones. Here’s why. As suspicions about technology’s dark side increase, the ‘digital detox’ has grown in social status
Announcing Charles Krauthammer's final book.
Kurt Schlichter's new book Militant Normals
Ian Buruma and the age of sexual McCarthyism - The New York Review of Books editor is the latest casualty of the identitarian mob
The Guardian's "resident agony aunt"
WHY CHRISTINE BLASEY FORD’S HIGH SCHOOL YEARBOOKS WERE SCRUBBED: Faculty Approved Racism, Binge Drinking and Promiscuity
University rolls out required diversity training
Google Says It Continues to Allow Apps to Scan Data From Gmail Account
Beto O’Rourke to Black American: Illegal Immigrant Labor Needed for Cotton Gin
Google Emails Show Employees Sought To Leverage Search Results To Harm Trump's Agenda, Report Says
New O'Keefe Video: Federal Employee Does Work for Socialists at Government Job
CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS? Pelosi, Schumer, Schiff and Warner DEMAND DOJ-FBI Defy Trump Declassification Order
FBI Had "Two Sets Of Records" On Trump Investigation; Comey, McCabe Implicated: Carter
FBI memos detail ‘partisan axes,’ secret conflicts behind the Russia election meddling assessment
Fight on, Trump - you magnificent bastard
´Considerable failure´ Rees-Mogg delivers CRUCIAL point why Brexit date WON´T be delayed
When Britain Stood Up at Bruges - Our Brexit Diarist Remembers the Speech That Summoned Britain to Freedom
Thursday, September 20. 2018
"25 years ago."
That is indeed an oldie. Other wisdom from marathoner Eliud Kipchoge
It's like a digital Old Testament God. And, it seems, the Chinese don't mind much.
Cultural differences are interesting. Euroland is halfway there, but US citizens (other than those dependent on it) mostly retain an attitude of rebellion against government power. Still, I bet somebody at the NSA would love those Chinese systems.
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