Like the outfall from a sewage works bobbing up and down, the rise and fall of political figures eschewing extreme views appears throughout history with remarkable regularity (thank goodness for laxatives!). A simple look back through history and at any point in recent decades will demonstrates that. The rise (again) of populism having an unpredictable impact upon electoral outcomes and social stability. The cultural narrative behind many views seems to be particularly influential. The causes of populism are at the heart of the most significant political and social science debates. One narrative contends that economic globalization resulted in real suffering among less-educated working-class voters, catalyzing populism. Another narrative contends that populism is an adverse reaction to cultural progressiveness and that economic factors are not relevant or only relevant symbolically through perceptions of loss of cultural status.

It is remarkable that the extreme statements of Trump are being given significant backing from some of the people least likely to benefit from his gaining a second presidential position. His recent CPAC speech embodying such vitriol and hatred toward American citizens and immigrants who have civil and legal rights within the USA. See here. A lot of the MAGA rhetoric has been supported (until recently) by the likes of OAN (One America Network news channel) and Fox News. Fox News has had to instigate a fact checking process due to being sued.

It is fairly common for large swathes of the US to have only these channels (and similar) available as their primary source of 'news' and 'reliable and independent' information and 'facts'. Those words being emphasized as they are commonly used when the words spoken are not as such. Tucker Carlson was able to get away with broad sweeping statements as his program was classified as 'entertainment' in the category allotted to the time slot. Carefully crafted wording which, when parsed to its basics, made statements with little or no basis in fact was common. As was famously stated in 'Mein Kampf' by Adolf Hitler, a große Lüge (Big Lie) had to be so extreme and unbelievable that people would assume (through constant repetition) that a statement simply had to be true.

Trump making those extreme statements and ramblings regarding revenge and a 'judgment day' for his political opponents is disturbing to say the least. His overt racism is apparent. Yet... 'the crowd rose to their feet and roared with approval'. Yesterday I was speaking with an Algerian truck driver (in the US on a special work visa due to truck driver shortages). He was oddly pro-Trump. One of the many people Trump referenced with his "“We have languages coming into our country … they have languages that nobody in this country has ever heard of. It’s a horrible thing.”.

The article linked above at the Guardian has perhaps one subtle (ish) reference to past extremists... "But, like demagogues of the past, the comedy and showmanship smuggled in a sinister undertow. Trump’s ability to play the crowd, turning its emotions from euphoria to fury as easily as flicking a switch, carries echoes that are hard to ignore.".

What is even more alarming is the lack of coverage regarding his statements both within the US and elsewhere globally. Very disturbing.

... who would have thought... here.

... here. They are/will be needed I fear.

Arkansas passes 'Drag Performance Bill' which classifies this as an 'adult-oriented business'.

Elsewhere.. Tennessee actually... the Lt. Gov., Randy McNally, after backing anti-LGBTQ bills, has some explaining to do (perhaps - unless he is mistaken of course and did not really understand he was clicking on a button or ten).

On Monday a 33 year old woman who was walking home from work in a Center City was brutally attacked. Ages 11-14, apparently.

This posting of Jon Stewart discussing the 2nd Amendment with regards to guns and public safety with a 'supporter' of it is astounding.

Here.

This article, "Every parent I know is worried about their child’s anxiety. Here’s what 25 years of teaching has shown me", is spot on in identifying the issues.

Probably one of the most important articles to read today... here.

Read how you will... here.

I have reached a stage in my life where certain things just plain annoy me. Things like sloppy programming in a piece of software, shopping bags that you cannot even carry a couple of mosquitoes around in before the handles break, 'easy open' packaging or packaging with a specific place for opening / cutting (e.g. the resealable packets where you have a 'cut here' or 'tear here' line right adjacent to the sealing area making it impossible to open or re-open the packet), and so on. I am sure you get the idea and have a few of your own pet peeves and annoyances.

Below are a couple of my latest ones.

The USPS has made it 'easier than ever to send your gifts and greetings' At this time of year, US residents receive the regular notification in the mail of the latest dates by which you should send post and packages to ensure delivery by/before December 25th. Previous notices have contained the pertinent information advising you of these dates on a nice little mailer so you can pin it to your refrigerator. This year it is much easier...

1. Download QR scanner from App Store if you don’t already have one. Ask Great Aunt Ethel as she will know how to. Install the App.
2. Scan the code.
3. Copy short URL provided - your Great Aunt Ethel can tell you how.
4. Open Internet browser on phone
5. Paste short URL
6. Finally get to USPS web site to find out December 18 is final day to send priority mail packages for Christmas (a week/several days earlier than in the past! Thank you for the notice Louis Dejoy). All of this information could have been printed on the flyer in the first place. So much easier... NOT! Happy holidays...

Another example.

With friends all over the world I occasionally get in touch with them by phone. In the past week or so I made three international calls. Each of them were made at around the same time of day (two of them oddly at exactly the same time), different days, and having very similar duration, give or take 5-10 minutes. Two of them were around $7 while the third... over $30 !!! Given that telecom companies use 'least cost routing' and that with digital switching the only real cost is initiating the call for perhaps a second or so, perhaps someone can explain to me why there is such a dramatic difference - even that the two cheaper ones were on week days and the more expensive one at a weekend, there is still no true justification for that.

Gamesnacks.com has over 140 simple (but overall good quality) games you can play in browser with no ads or nonsense. I've played most of them with varying degrees of success, annoyance, bemusement, and frustration. Finding good HTML5 games is relatively hard. These come from Googles Area 120. More info here.

These are the games I keep coming back to again and again. Many are ... based on other existing games.

Basketball Masters - Bubble Tower - Candy Bubble - Dunk Brush - Endless Siege - Flippy Box - Hexa Dungeon - Pin the UFO - Retro Drift - Stack Bounce - Totemia - Tower Crash 3D - Knife Smash

I also recommend Card Games. Not surprisingly this site is predominantly all about card games. This one does have ads but overall it is fairly innocuous and there is definitely a card game or three there for you.

At last, with extensive evidence garnered over many decades, the proof is out there regarding whether or not these three, oft pilloried, items are good or bad for your health. I think the Daily Mail and other junk reporting will continue to use these as click bait for the ill-informed. Hint: White chocolate is not good for you. Here.

Now, what about tea?

A civilized country.... here.

Since 2000, global production of clothing has doubled.

We're buying 60 per cent more clothes now than we did 15 years ago.

But we're only keeping them for half as long.

A major survey in the UK six years ago found one in three young women considered garments "old" if they had been worn just twice.

And of course the knock on effect is... here.

Good grief is all I will say... here.

And I do not really need to say more than how Matthew Levine put it: "Another model is that the value in an NFT comes from a concept, and the value in a fractionalized NFT comes from, like, two concepts. “Take an object / Do something to it / Do something else to it,” Jasper Johns wrote. The essential transaction in an NFT is: Seller: I will sell you a unique pointer to an image of a dog for $4 million. Buyer: Ahahaha good one, that joke is worth $4 million to me, here you go. In a fractionalized NFT you have a slightly richer context: Owner/securitizer: I bought this unique pointer to an image of a dog for $4 million. The public: Ahahaha good one, congrats, money well spent. Owner/securitizer: Also I will sell fractional ownership interests in it for like $225 million. The public: Ahahaha another good one, that joke is worth $225 million to us, here you go. It’s two jokes so it’s worth 55 times as much. I don’t know!" The fractionalized asset would go on to double in value to about $500 million before subsiding. Note - article may be paywalled, open in incognito mode worked for me.

Covid cases are surging in Europe. America is in denial about what lies in store for it... the bleeding obvious is here. The world appears to be in a state of denial and carrying on as if nothing is wrong. Tonight I went to a local Rod and Gun Club to pick up a take-out order. The food there is very good. Tonight's special was pigs stomach which is a local PA Dutchie specialty (NB: I was getting it). The place was packed with around 70+ people in close proximity to each other. Myself and only one other person were wearing masks. One of the people serving me said while waving an arm in the direction of the room "You do not need to wear as mask. Nobody else is.". My response was? "Well you probably have not had throat cancer and are not immunocompromised.". Pennsylvania is experiencing a surge in delta-variant Covid.

... twisting a line from a famous song... The Untold Story Of Sushi In America... here. A fascinating presentation about... sushi... in America... and the Unification Church.

Here. Why is this happening? Ryan Johnson, a truck driver, explains the issue in ports: drivers have to wait in line to enter the port, in another to get loaded up, and then a third one to leave. The ports have no incentive to keep these lines moving and do not even offer a restroom to the drivers as they are not employees. Independent drivers are quitting because they cannot even make minimum wage at this rate.

Ryan Peterson, the CEO of a logistics company, explains one big issue with the Port of Long Beach (Twitter): a regulation about not stacking containers more than two high means gridlock and no one has space for storing even empty containers. This one is a success story as the regulation is now on hold after the tweetstorm.

And Cobol here.

I used to program in Cobol but like SAP I foolishly decided they were either old or not likely to amount to much - in that order. I even had the option to go on free SAP courses but declined. NB: In the US a typical SAP programmer is commanding > $1,500 a day and more.....

ProPublica has a well researched report concerning but a few of the many locations around the US which are able to bypass EPA regulations as they are notoriously lax and often based upon standards established in an arbitrary way back in the late 1908's. See here.

... you have the Rod Of Iron Ministry here.

A civilized country.... here.