Taiwan

Losing Taiwan means losing Japan.

If I were running for President - which I'm not - losing Taiwan to Communist China would be a non-starter.

There are few greater dangers in the world today than China overestimating their own strength.

Plastic Bag Ban

It always felt like total foolishness.

The depth of stupidity is staggering and ironic. Consider: the only plastic waste that made it to the ocean (the thing we were trying to avoid) was the waste we were recycling! That waste was sent to Asia because it was the only place where the cost of recycling made sense. Well guess what? The cost was cheap because they were disposing it improperly. Incredible!

PS - I used the grocery store plastic bags as garbage bags and that system worked pretty well. Now I have to buy plastic garbage bags -- so the net result is zero but some idiot politicians get to feel like they did something.

Do Ya Think?

Everyone dissatisfied in the Bay Area.

Hallsted feels the big issues — transit, infrastructure, fixing state pension obligations — have been ignored by politicians more interested in small battles and identity politics. “They need to get back to basics,” he said.

The problem is the big problems require competence and we're lacking it.

Bernie

I'll go on record here: I will not vote for the guy. Why? I've been to Cuba - the grocery stores have no food and majority of ladies at bars were prostitutes. I've been to Venezuela (when it was free and nice and it was NICE) and spoken with young people who spent their entire youths scared to go out at night post Chavez. And I've been to South Korea -- twice! South Korea is a corrupt, at times authoritarian hyper capitalist society and it's awesome! And unquestionably better than the North. So no, I'm not into radical experiments of whatever you want to call what Bernie is and stands for. At least 5 of his major policy ideas are basically non-starters for me...

I don't dislike the guy, but I believe his policies and followers would send us down a path 10-50x worse than Trump. Why do I think this? Oh...maybe the historical example of every single country who tried similar such radical reforms.

Here's what happens. Bernie as President wants utterly radical policies:

1) Forgive all student debt.
2) College now free for all
3) Healthcare for all
4) Green New Deal

Just to name a few.

Math makes such policy ideas totally impossible, and EVERYONE who brings it up will be labeled corrupt, enemy-of-the-people and so forth. Such opposition will initially use institutions to oppose these hair brained ideas and because Socialists can't change the immutable laws of physics, math, economics, and reality -- they won't be able to push their ideas through -- unless, unless, they remove the opposition. And this is why - folks - even with the best intentions Socialists/Communists, etc - will turn violent and revolutionary because either it fails in the short run or it takes generations to realize the pyramid scheme for what it is.

Bernie isn't pushing for Denmark style Socialism. Obama pushed for Denmark style Socialism. And they all miss the actually important point: the United States of America is not fucking Denmark, nor should it be.

You want to lower student debt, put the colleges on the hook. You want free college, support strong state systems. You want better healthcare - go for the marginal improvements and price transparency first. You want a Green New Deal - go sell the Indians and Chinese on it first.

Decadence

10 ways we are decadent. 

It’s almost like we just can’t face up to the hard reality of a post-9/11, post-2008, post-internet world and aren’t going to accept the hard work that continuing to improve civilisation involves. We’ll be fine and keep chugging along for a while, but it’s no coincidence that politics has become so awful at the same time as the rest of these trends have emerged.

Not sure I agree with all the claims herein, but nonetheless interesting to think about.

Logging

Film: Sea of Love

Holds up. First half better than second half. Thinking...is a better strategy for watching content to focus on watching and re-watching stuff you love instead of trying to see everything? I'm just wondering how long I can go without seeing Jojo Rabbit.

TV: Curb, The Outsider, Giri Haji

Curb is the best it's ever been. I want to see how The Outsider ends, but I feel like ultimately it will be disposable. Giri Haji is everything I want a tv show to be, yet trapped by its televisioness in that it's become addicted to story turns.

Logging

Film: Dragged Across Concrete

My type of movie, but nevertheless one I couldn't recommend to non-like minded cinema goers. There's a sloppiness to the filmmaking which sort of could work to charming in certain types of movies - thinking early Sam Raimi or Clerks - that is, comedies or horror - but I think does a disservice to the crime drama form.

Still, the tone, scenes, performances were pretty excellent and for adventurous male cinema goers, I think a lot to like.

I understand how/why the film is partially buried due to the PC culture, but actually one of the elements I thought was handled inelegantly was the overt political statement the film was trying to make (although I'm sure the fans and the filmmaker might deny it) about rough skilled men getting the heave-ho in an increasingly feminized society.

TV: The Oscars

Background watching. I'm happy Parasite won, I suppose because Bong Joon Ho is one of my favorite filmmakers. But IMO, he didn't need an Oscar and the Oscars have been so tainted by their own agenda, I can't help but feel a bit of cynicism like when a douche discovers your favorite band and begins to claim it as their own.

Math, Personal Finance, Asking the Right Questions, and Other Random Thoughts

One of the great takeaways I remember from math class - there were math problems that could only be solved by doing the steps in the right order. Otherwise, the problem was unsolvable. Of course, I can't remember any of these problems off the top of my head, but the concept always stuck with me.

Maybe its having kids, but I end up reading a lot of personal finance stuff to get ideas. There's this whole FIRE movement where people plan to save like 50% of their paycheck and then retire early. FIRE = Financial Independence Retire Early. I don't get these people. I think they're asking the wrong question about their own lives. Strikes me, they're asking: how can I "retire" ie not work, or perhaps "not work for money." When, to me, the question is: what do I do with this time I have? Just imagine you were born into money, you'd still need to figure out something to do. So this idea of laser focusing on "retirement" seems to me a really weird way of thinking about ones own life. Maybe just me.

Andre Drummond by all accounts does everything right - dominates using the skills he was born with, works hard, improves every year, sort of follows all the ancient virtues - and yet - seems to be doomed to NBA irrelevance. It sucks. And why tragedy is the greatest of all story forms.

Housing is more expensive for the younger generation than it was for older generations. Investing (using index funds, etc) is cheaper. My suggestion: buy less of what costs more and more of what costs less.

And this.

7. You’ll end up treasuring almost nothing you buy. Over the years, I’ve had fleeting desires for all kinds of material goods. Sometimes, I caved in and bought. Most of the stuff I purchased has since been thrown away.

And then this other random thought: what songs from the last couple years will be remembered 15-20-30 years from now and played at parties and sung at karaoke? My votes: Let it Go (from Frozen) and Old Town Road. Sorry, I know neither of those are cool answers.

Allow yourself one (or maybe two) life indulgences. I used find $5 coffee offensive. Evidence of everything wrong with coastal America. Why pay $5 for something I could make for 10 cents? I've done a 180. Maybe it's having kids. In fact, I'd argue there is some relaxational element to saying to yourself - fuck it - I like coffee and if I want a fucking $5 flat white, I'm gonna drink a $5 flat white whenever I want. You're not damaging the world, and not damaging your future self by doing so. I think the problem in life is living ONLY in indulgences. I kinda sorta think allowing yourself one (or maybe a couple) indulgences is maybe the key to NOT giving into too many indulgences or just becoming too anxious in general. Just a working theory, I don't know. But for instance, I now indulge in coffee drinks and drink way less alcohol and have almost no inclination or desire toward gambling whereas in the past I maybe enjoyed drinking and gambling. Of course, this could also just be age and life circumstance. 

British Woman Arrested in Maldives For Wearing A Swimsuit

And I'm betting nary a peep from the "American feminists."

In Other Words, Fake News

Incredible...Gayle King is getting death threats because she did an interview with Lisa Leslie BEFORE Kobe passed away and asked about the 2003 rape case. Some asshole at CBS then posted the clip of the question AFTER Kobe passed. Now she's getting death threats.

Our news media, folks!

PS - I'd call this evil.

Paper Rip

The State of the Union paper rip by Pelosi is an act of a weak person against a powerful one. Could be a powerful symbol, except Pelosi misunderstands what she is: the freaking Speaker of the House, probably the 3rd most powerful person in the entire country. Totally dumb.

No One But Themselves to Blame

Establishment Democrats worry about Bernie.

When Dems fully adopted the language of victimhood and create none to counter it on liberal ground, radicalization was inevitable and we ceded the anti-PC ground to Trump of all people.

Logging

Film: Walking Tall (2004)

A poorly directed film with pretty shabby writing and casting and suggests that none of that matters because The Rock is simply watchable swinging a big stick of wood.

Sports: The Super Bowl

Niners blew it - got choked up on offense in the final quarter, defense got tired (understandably) and the refs didn't help it. Football a very frustrating game to watch.