The best description I have read is that the Fed is a govt sanctioned monopoly on check kiting. As you say, it is a hybrid and they split the "profits".
1,304 karma · joined July 31, 2008
I smoked for about 2 years in grad school but had no problem quiting. One day I just stopped and like you I had no desire after the initial urge was gone. Maybe I was not fully addicted yet.
I'd recommend getting a copy of Mathematica. The home/hobby version is only $376 for the desktop version though you could start on the cloud version for less. MMA is great for checking your algebra (the bane of my math work) and graphing and using it for "what if" questions.
Also, hang out on the math and mma stackexchange forums and read posts and when something interesting strikes you dig in. Years ago I discovered that the lemniscate is the inverse transform of the hyperbola. It wasn't a formal proof but close enough and I was pretty excited about discovering something like that on my own. Also, check out John D. Cook's and Daniel LeMire's blogs for interesting ideas to investigate.
Enjoy!
I am hoping to get off of Windows by the end of the year (currently on Win8.1 which clocks out in January) then probably move to a phone not controlled by Google next year.
I don't need nor want this. Also, as I mentioned, I don't want to be on Windows as they turn the screws to lock it down and farm/spy on me. The precursor to this is MS had an S-Mode version of Win10 when it first came out which blocked you from installing anything not from the MS store but you could disable it. How long will that be an option, Win12?
In any case, I am out and probably going to move to Linux before the end of the year. My primary PC is Win8.1, a Win7 bench PC for cloning and a Win10 laptop for service work. I did some research already and Dymo kinda-sorta has support for Linux drivers and others got it working so I am hopeful.
I did a little research on Dymo and they kinda-sorta provide driver support for Linux so some have been able to get it to work.
For me the killer is Outlook which has all my client info and the ability to print on my Dymo printer. I can live with Libre Office for docs and I can probably find other work arounds but the transition doesn't look easy.
In my view the govt necessarily has a monopoly on the use of force which is unavoidable. The important part of the "social contract" is when is it valid for the govt to use that force. The US Constitution originally laid out when the use of that force was moral. Using force to extract tax payment from property owners is not on that list and turns the govt into criminals operating under the color of the law which is terrible situation.
My recommendation is to;
1) Start writing a daily journal so you will become more clear on what you believe and why you do the things you do (and change them if you want) and your value system.
2) The subconscious is mostly automatic and many good or bad habits arise automatically from our minds and before we know it we are acting on them. When I am trying to break a habit I use a counter to count how many times I catch myself doing something that I am trying to change during my day. It is counter intuitive but just focus on the counting, don't analyze, just click the button and move on. Over time this simple technique will help to reprogram the subc by just making you aware of the automatic thoughts/action but it does take time. I use a knitting counter but there are many varieties and I don't use it all the time. These are for the finger but I replaced the strap with a rubber band and wear in on my wrist.
https://www.amazon.com/Kingdder-Electronic-Knitting-Colorful...
3) A couple of times a month do a "laugh log" by which I mean write down during the course of a day anything that makes you laugh or that you find amusing. Introspection can be difficult but what we laugh at is a little peek into what is going on under the hood, so to speak. Collect the log and review it in your journal and identify implications.
Good luck!
I discovered his podcast about 2 months ago and taking my time catching up and making sure I understand each podcast before proceeding to the next because they build on each other. I have already made changes to my sleep and learning to focus on focus. It has been an open question of mine for years of how do we change our minds, specifically techniques on how to change bad mental habits and all that entails.
Also, consider that it may be pycho-somatic. No, that doesn't mean you are crazy or the pain is not real it just means your subc mind has zeroed in on your wrists to express conflict (my take). The best book in this area is by John Sarno, Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection. You can ignore his Freudian rage theory (he wasn't a psychologist) but learn his techniques and you may have success as many people have using his advice, myself included. I completely cured my "RSI" in about a month and can type for hours now without problems.
Don't pee on my leg and tell me it is raining. The whole article was cover for a corrupt case all the while claiming the DA's office is as pure as the driven snow.
Is physics "dismal" because we can't have free energy or perpetual motion machines (that can do work)?
> However, diets containing large amounts of sucrose, high fructose corn syrup, or fructose alone, overwhelm the ability of the small intestine to metabolize it all and under these conditions a significant amount of fructose is then metabolized by the liver and to a lesser extent by other organs such as skeletal muscle. It should be pointed out that the difference between the amount of fructose available from sucrose obtained from cane or beet sugars is not significantly less than that from corn syrup. Corn syrup is somewhat improperly identified as high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) giving the impression that it contains a large amount of fructose. However, whereas the fructose content of sucrose is 50% (since it is a pure disaccharide of only glucose and fructose), the content in HFCS is only 55% and in many cases is actually only 40-45% fructose. The reason that corn syrup (which is all glucose to begin with) is labeled as HFCS is because the glucose extracted from corn starch is enzymatically treated to convert some of the glucose to fructose. This is done in order to make the sugar sweeter which is why it is particularly popular in the food industry. Therefore, any disorder and/or dysfunction (see below), attributed to the consumption of fructose, can be manifest whether one consumes cane or beet sugar, HFCS, or pure fructose such as in honey and most fruits.
I got into star gazing by accident a few years back because I found $250 entry-level telescope, unused new-in-box for $60 at a garage sale. So look for a used scope for your starter because it is cheaper and very common for people to buy expensive equipment then get out of the hobby. Once you get your sea legs you can upgrade knowing what you want to see and the right equipment to do the job.
I also went on line and learned how to use the scope and then went to some local "star parties" which were fun. Do a search for your area and go because you'll learn a lot faster by talking to others. The local club did a field trip/tour of a (small) observatory at a local community college which was great. Another benefit is some of these gazers have dropped a ton of money on advance systems and at the star parties they are more than happy to let you take a peek and look at all sorts of objects that a beginner scope can't see but it was fun to see the planets and the moon, etc. with my own scope too.
>By abstracting a system we can work with the essential relationships and features without getting caught up in details and exceeding our working memory capacity.
You are on the right track here. In Rand's "Introduction To Objectivist Epistemology" (where she spells out her theory of concepts) she identifies this as a fundamental cognitive need. As she put it, concepts are "space" savers that allow us to condense the world of experience into a manageable set of abstractions/concepts. The fundamental epistemological question is how do we define/use concepts without falling into contradiction or thinking in a circle.
BTW, Rand is not popular on HN so you won't get much discission here but read and judge her work for youself.
I once knew a guy who was an HP engineer who bailed on HP and went through two different startups that failed. He said the problem with engineers is they think that success is about the technology but the lesson he learned is that it also about marketing and strategy which the failed startups didn't budget enough for and had poor execution plans.
FWIW, many of the people on the "richest people" lists like Fortune, made their money through real estate. The main reason is because real estate is inherently leveraged via the mortgage so if you make some good moves your return is multiplied. But of course with leverage comes risk and those lists suffer from survivor bias -- meaning they are the people that never flamed out in a bad market and lost everything because they could not pay the mortgage, which is common.
Start writing a daily journal... it is a huge help in clarifying your thinking in all aspects of your life.
Also, do a search for Lincoln & Euclid. Early in his law studies Lincoln took a break to study Euclid's Elements to learn how to reason and demonstrate an idea clearly. You probably don't need to slog through The Elements (but that would be great) so check out TheGreatCourses.com for some good basic lectures on mathematical reasoning, the older the better. I bought the Dunham lecture "Great Thinkers, Great Theorems" and it is excellent. He walks you through simple proofs such as proving the Sqrt[2] is an irrational number and much more.
NB: Don't pay list price unless you can afford it or can't wait. Most items regularly go on sale at signficantly discounted rate. I got the GT,GT lectures at a discount because I found it posted to YT and emailed them to alert them.