Idle musings

I reread this article today and I thought to myself why do totalitarians hate Jews?

On a whim I put that into Google to see what was returned and what I found was rather interesting. Obviously articles such as that tend to lump people in a way that helps their argument but the basic premise rings true for me - totalitarians need the ignorant and the cowed. Free thinkers will poke holes in their model.

That line of thinking makes a great deal of sense to me but I don't understand why it is only the Jews that are brought up. Totalitarians are equal opportunity killers of the independent of thought as well as the independent of means (e.g. kulaks).

Continuing the line of thought from the previous post, it strikes me that the ever present need of totalitarians is to control the narrative. Widespread teachings of how totalitarians treat intellectuals and those that aren't dependent on state would be bad for the narrative while narrowing the scope will bring the unbalanced out of the woodwork.

Ah, now I'm painting with a very broad brush.

Western yin and yang

Western Civ, before the postmodernists got to it, was about the Occidental yin/yang of Roman and Greek thought.

Roman in the sense that if another culture (conquered or not) did things better than the current Roman method, the new method was adopted. This allowed them to roll over all opposition and only slowed to a stop when it was found that spending other people's money on bread and circuses got you into power easier than continuing to adapt. The Roman way can be seen in the Renaissance and laissez-faire.

Greek in a way that can be summed up in how Archimedes died (in Plutarch's account): Marcellus's men came upon Archimedes and commanded him to come and meet the general. Archimedes told soldiers "do not disturb my circles" and the enraged soldier cut him down. Greek thought is what led to theoretical mathematics and science vs. Roman applied mathematics and science. It also led to utopian/idealized thinking that becomes blind to facts when those facts do not conform to theory/model. Models are wonderful tools as long as you do not lose sight of the fact they do not take into account all the confounding variables of life.



I feel that for far too many decades the US has allowed Greek thinking to prevail. We, as a culture, have become unbalanced. Worse, we are making more use of bread and circuses. While there is much chatter to "throw the bums out", little is done at the ballot box.

Strange times we live in.

Governmant and the Ruling Class

Much is made of the differences in the various forms of government. Some are called more enlightened or fair and others are considered more admirable. It is my opinion that the form of government is chosen/maintained by those with a will to power to garner the most support. Regardless of the form of government, the ruling class constantly shifts between a legitimate aristocracy (those that hold true to the same laws and cultural norms as the rest of their society) and a plutocracy (those that act on whimsey without regard to their society). Revolutions are carried out in order to rearrange the standing of a group of households. It should be kept in mind that revolutions can be peaceful. As well they can be undertaken under false pretenses in order to gain time to entrench before implementing changes society would not accept otherwise.

I do not hold to the idea that old families of wealth are somehow better. Rather, I acknowledge that their wealth and family connections allow them far greater social influence. I also acknowledge that the majority of society gives little attention to the workings of government and as a consequence are greatly affected by propaganda. One example of this propaganda would be communism's promise of a classless society vs the reality of the power held by members of the central committee over the governed

Old households were once held in high regard by their societies and were encouraged to stand as exemplars. I hold that such encouragement made for better governance. Whereas these days they are ignored or demonized which has them stepping away from an active role in society. This allows the plutocracy free reign to our detriment.

A democracy which does not take account of any kind of superiority, or even which does not take into account all kinds, can not escape continual and wretched agitation It will consume itself and surely fall a victim to chance and transient despotisms, with intervals of anarchy - Henri Baudrillart, Aristocracy - Cyclopædia of Political Science, Political Economy, and the Political History of the United States

Musings on US Education

There have been a number of articles on the drive to get all children into college at the expense of the trades over the past few years. This harms both the individual and society in general.

The harm to society can be mitigated through outsourcing and automation but these are problematic as well. Automation requires sufficient volume of goods sold to cover the cost of maintaining the equipment as well as its debt/lease. If the volume can not be maintained, the manufacturer must raise the price which brings the demand curve into play. Outsourcing only pushes a society's problem off for a period of time. What is forgotten is that labor is cheap in these areas because they are poor at present. With continued investment they will no longer be poor and labor will become more expensive. One could think this as altruistic but when it comes at the expense of your own society it is nothing more than selfishness.

The harm to the individual is much more intense. A young child will not understand why they are falling behind their peers. The child will continue to struggle or may simply quit and think themselves a failure. The tragedy here is that the child may have so little confidence that they will not put forth any effort into STEM instruction/careers. The problem is that not everyone learns the same way. Some will not grasp the topic unless it is presented in an applied manner and others will require a basic/theoretical approach. Along with that base method students have different learning styles. When wood/metal/auto shop classes were removed from the basic curriculum a useful avenue of applied learning was removed which left many directionless. Happily some of those poor souls join the military and once in that crucible of applied learning find success.

What of those who require an applied learning method that do not join the military? Some stumble into the training they need. Where they determine the need for a specific skill and take a vocational class. At which point they learn that they are not failures. With their confidence restored they seek out the applied types of education that will move them towards their goals.

What of those who have no luck at all in picking up skills that lead to gainful employment? I'm not referring to wastrels, only those who assume they are failures because they never experienced an applied educational environment. Now, much like the 70s, it appears that welfare programs are the chosen medicine. The age old problem with welfare is that it breeds dependence and soon you will have generations of families that are fully dependent on the state. With the more recent advent of open borders into the US and Europe, welfare immigration comes into play. Welfare creates a downward spiral of resentment between the individual and society that in the extreme will lead to revolution (see Soviets, NAZIs, etc). Signs of this can be seen in France's immigrant community.

It is my opinion that the widespread elimination of shop classes was driven by a desire to increase the success rate of liberal arts degrees without regard to applied learning. What may seem like menial job training to those who have a basic/theoretical approach to life, is something altogether different to someone with an applied approach. The applied individual will make connections from what they learn in shop class to what they learn in their more basic/theoretical classes. Connections that will serve as a Rosetta Stone to all basic/theoretical material. Artistic individuals of both approaches may find success as well as it could open the door to mediums that they would otherwise be ignorant.

Fixed Markets

Somewhere around 4 years ago my trading started to lose. I did manage to break even that year but I began to doubt what I knew about trading.

Then I read about Comex changing their gold contracts so that it is more difficult to take delivery. Later I read about Democrat Senator Tom Harkin suggesting that private 401k accounts should be confiscated and closed mine out. Then I read about the market rally with no volume. And now the Fed is going to spend $40 billion every month indefinitely.

At this point I think metals and other price dense objects (e.g. high-end hand tools) are best. Along with a large freezer to stock when good prices on bulk meat come around. I'd also suggest looking into your local CSAs.

I'm working on a metal system that involves moving in and out of the big 4 precious metals. This works best with GoldMoney but the argument that you should be able to have it on hand is starting to persuade. My difficulty is determining its success rate over time as a trade can be held for many years.

An example of this is that I expect the both silver and palladium to become very good buys in relation to gold and platinum at some point "soon". I had originally thought they would cheapen quickly like in 2008 but now I wonder if the price relationship will go the other way. In that they would become good buys because both gold and platinum will skyrocket.

Platinum seems very cheap at the moment, but it normally moves with palladium. So it may go lower yet.

 Update 1/5/13 - More on the manipulation

Did Markets Or Manipulations "Save The World" In 2012?

“In general [stock traders are] trained to analyze the economic data, balance sheets and so on. They’re not trained to predict political decisions. These factors have ruled the lives of fund managers in a more significant manner than what used to be over the past 20 or 30 years."

Thoughts

Looks like it's time for my annual posting.

Heh.

How time flies.

Anyhow, I've noticed that nearly anything I've a mind to post has already been written about. Kind of cuts down on the desire to write.

:\

 Still, I think this is a useful mental exercise.

Socket Sets

A while back I picked up a craftsman metric set.

I had two criteria 1) wide socket range and 2) reliable with a lifetime guaranty.

I found out later that Home Depot and Lowe's Home Improvement offered sets with the same lifetime guaranty. What really got me was that Home Depot had a set that was around $10 cheaper but with more sockets.

It seems tool sets are similar to houses. In that you quickly learn how ignorant you are.

So, in the hopes that some random passerby might see this -

When researching a socket set, make one of your criteria to be that all the sockets match the driver.

You see, my craftsman set has a 3/8" driver but only half of the sockets are sized for 3/8". The rest are sized for 1/4" and thus need the included conversion socket. Up until today I thought that just a harmless but stupid choice on the part of craftsman. But today I was taking off the driver's side valve cover and the socket + converter + driver would not fit in space around the lower rear bolt and the shape of the valve cover disallowed a box wrench. So off to the store for a 10mm in 3/8".

Droped calories again

Started taking two tablespoons of flaxseed oil. That has upped my calories by 260 so I've had to drop my calorie intake to 6x body weight.

Still targeting the end of April to be down to 200-205lbs. As I've got it in my head that I want to be able to see my lower abs I may have to drop below 200. At this point I can't see dropping below 180 but I can't be sure.

Calisthenics are progressing slowly but well. Doing push ups with my feet propped up on a 3' box. I still need elastic bands to help with my chin ups. Ab roll outs are a hard one to measure progress on but I'm happy with them. Currently doing two super sets of the following (subsets are done per minute for 30 minutes overall):

5 squats + 5 ab roll outs (minutes 1-5 & 16-20)
5 squats + 5 chins (minutes 6-10 & 21-25)
5 squats + 5 elevated push ups (minutes 11-15 & 26-30)

When I'm doing ab roll outs from my feet (instead of knees), true chins (no bands), and true head stand push ups I'll decide on if I want to combine all three and squats per minute or to work on explosive (i.e. jump) versions of the squats, chins, and push ups.

Interesting thing about the lowered calories is the lowered energy and motivation levels. I think the lowered energy levels negate the ease I should feel from the weight loss. Once I hit my goal body fat percentage and start upping my calories I'll be able to do more (swimming laps and running are two things that come to mind) and that will mean I'll need more calories in order to maintain body weight. At this point I'll need to figure out what milestones will need to be met before I start adding muscle. I hate cardio but with the allergies and asthma I'll need to suck it up and do it if I want to progress. I would think cardio and maintaining strength in the calisthenics will be the deciding factor on when I would stop trying to gain muscle. I was thinking, say, 2x body weight in a squat or deadlift would be a good indicator but I remember when I had OK gym lifts but was pretty weak compared to my body weight.