Last I had checked, we had 16 Intelligence Agencies, with one office to oversee them. Apparently, we are now up to 18. At any rate, we have so many agencies, and their conclusions (maybe I should say 'inconclusions') combine to leave inconclusive answers. Feature or Bug? See for yourself:
Throughout our lives, the nature of work has evolved. Comparing the US in 1920 to 2020 provides some interesting contrasts as people leave the farm and move to more urban areas. (How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm once they've seen gay Paree?)
The 1920s is the decade when America's economy grew 42%. Mass production spread new consumer goods into every household. The modern auto and airline industries were born. The U.S. victory in World War I gave the country its first experience of being a global power. Soldiers returning home from Europe brought with them a new perspective, energy, and skills. Everyone became an investor thanks to easy access to credit. That hidden weakness helped cause the Great Depression.
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Farming declined from 18% to 12.4% of the economy. Taxes per acre rose 40%, while farm income fell 21%. At the same time, new inventions sent the manufacturing of consumer goods soaring. https://www.thebalance.com/roaring-twenties-4060511
As people moved, so did their employment options and it hasn't stopped, nor has inequality...in fact it is as high as ever. Stagnant wages for most, alongside soaring profits and wages for those at the top, will continue to mean that the 0.1 to 1 percent accumulate more and more income and wealth.
Two weeks ago I said the MIC had every incentive to botch the Afghanistan withdrawal. If it went smoothly, who knows which militarily occupied nation we might pull out of next?
The news media went into overtime trying to create a climate of fear that we should never pull our troops out of anywhere ever again.
“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
Pablo Picasso
Morning, just finished rewatching a BBC series WarTime Farm about the challenges of running a farm during WII in Britain. It was a forced shift from traditional farming methods to modern commercial agriculture. Surprising number of technological advances from chemicals to machinery existed for significant time. The market for the products simply did not develop without government intervention.
Welcome one and all to Friday night photos. Post um if you got um.
Last week dystopian was trying to remember a Japanese word that means "pleasingly out of focus background". The word he was thinking of is bokeh. There is ongoing debate in the photo world about what constitutes pleasingly out of focus.
Here are a few examples of bokeh.
the New Age is being born.
This morning at 9:40 am I posted as part of the Evening Blues
Political Implications
@humphrey
"NYC had 6.91 inches of rain in a 24 hour period. Ihe most intense hour dropped almost 4 inches.
Even the best parts of NYC sewer system can handle fewer than 2 inches an hour.
Apparently, there are few to none possible ways to fix this even a little bit.
Good Morning !
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It isn't a question of treatments or vaccines, it is the sanity of using both. I've seen three clips today which illustrate the stupidity of censoring conversation and scientific debate. People are dying, and yes we should be concerned. Joe Rogan is being attacked for getting over his COVID infection in three days by using a cocktail of (unacceptable) treatments. Data is being ignored and suppressed and conversations disappeared for exploring treatments. Doctors are being silenced despite their rather remarkable success treating COVID. Why? I would suggest the profit motive. The clips are below the fold...
Almost everyone knows about Orwell's 1984. Fewer people are familiar with Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.
However, one of the greatest dystopian novels of all time generally gets overlooked.
I'm speaking of The Trial by Franz Kafka.
