Cultural Oddity

First law of corruption

The explanation for the "big bonuses" which have been talked about in the media for quite a bit, is very simple. It's obvious to anybody who witnessed the way of life in a 3rd world. Everybody who is anybody (has any position of power) has a finite amount of time to make money (out of the position of power). And this brings about the First Law of Corruption:

Steal Fast, Steal Now, or you wont' be able to steal at all.

And I sure keep feeling like I'm back in the USSR.

Refreshing new world

Apart from thew new ways of ugliness, the world of internet-based interconnectedness brings something real good and positive. This is when people speaking their mind can put up a commentary channel, which can exist and make a living. I'm speaking about Young Turks. The guys say as they see it. And that's refreshing.

Quite argumentatively, they can say and show that:

• The majority party in the US senate is corpo-rats (my copy-right), -- not democrats or republicans.
• That the majority literally takes their marching orders from their puppeteers.
• That the "golden bracelets" of election campaigns, and, more importantly, cushy "retirement jobs" will keep those corpo-rats in check no matter what the electorate things or does.

Really quite refreshing to see outspoken reasonable people!

We are predictable

Our location, that is.

The more the better

The "fitness" gurus have a habit of saying nonsense. They would like you to believe that if only you do something-rather a few minutes a day, which is, or course, easy, you'll get fast results. In such cases, they are lying through their teeth.

But such nonsensical claims have a valid point. That is, people are generally lazy. They don't like to spend effort. They like exercises which are:

• quick,
• easy,
• which bring results fast.

Which is a sheer nonsense. But it gives rise to a proliferation of strange practices. Such as "yin yoga", where you don't spend efforts, because stretching cold muscles is all you have to do to be fit, in spite of all the rules of sports medicine. (By a strange coincidence, the founder of this "yoga" is Pauli Zink, who proclaimed himself to be a Monkey (Kung-fu) King a while ago. Which encountered some serious fraud accusations. )

These natural human tendencies (leading to unhealthy desires) caused one kettlebell aficionado David Chester to joke that heroin is the best for those who want to loose wait fast. Because it's quick to take. And it's easy. And it brings results fast. Very efficient.

If, however, you want to get some fitness results in a natural way, you have to work on it. And the more, the better. Here is a study (if you need one) which showed that extra training was giving rise to health improvements even for runners covering 50 miles a week.

The worst country song ever

   Here is the dude who got his guitar damaged by United airlines.

   And he complained to the customer service.

   And he got nothing by that.

   And he wrote a song about this.

   And he got several million views on Youtube.

   And he feels righteous about it.

   And I think he is totally nuts.

The assumption is that United is guilty of breaking the guitar, and it did not compensate the customer for it. And people are used to think that "customer is always right". 

Well there is a reason for the proverb. But one should not take it absolutely. Because some customers are un-reasonable or even insane. What if somebody comes to a car dealer and demands a car for a dollar? What if somebody demands a first class cabin for the price of economy? What if somebody puts an expensive guitar in the luggage and demands a super-careful treatment?

Everybody and his brother knows that the airlines throw the luggage around. They even worn you. about it. If your piece is expensive and fragile, carry it on yourself. Or at least insure it. But no, the dude is going to relinquish any responsibility for his own instrument, and then demand a compensation from the bad-bad-bad airline. A typical modern dude. No responsibility.

Of course, he is a modern dude, so he's going to write a song about it. And put it on Youtube, and millions of people are going to see it. I don't really know why. Maybe because he's got back to the evil airline (which is just doing it's business). Or maybe because millions more people don't like to take responsibility for their own shit.

In any event, there were millions of viewers. And this reminds me of something else. When the recorded sound was invented, somebody said that oh well, now there will be a lot of bad music recorded. The development of the internet is similar. Overall it's gotta be positive. But, like a true democracy tool, it has plenty of quite ugly revelations. When, for example, an immature simpleton singing country songs can easily damage reputation of a legitimate business and feel good about it.

No evidence you would have died

A man is suing an insurance company to reimburse his expenses. His doctor advised him to go to another hospital to get a liver transplant faster than in the insurance-covered center. In fact, he had to get out of state.

The insurance lawyer's claim sounds particularly sinister: "...there was no evidence [the patient] would have died had he waited to have the transplant in California."

It sure sounds like the insurance company would like you to die before suing them.

Which brings back my favorite impression of this universal health coverage "debate". It's not a fight between a "socialized care" and "free market". It's a stand-off between decent and civilized on one side and backwards and decrepit on the other.

Reminds me of the USSR before it's collapse once again. The system clung to it's old and crusty ways even though they were not working out. Used scare tactics to brainwash it's citizens into obedience mode. Did not work in the end, but sure inflicted some suffering.

Direct Buy of "Direct Democracy"

This is a good overview of how California-style "Direct Democracy" became a vehicle for buying votes by corporations, aka "special interest" groups". It's got so bad, that the system cannot reform itself. In which case it's basically waiting for a cataclismic event to force the reform. In other words, even though it is bad, it has to get much worse for a meaningful reform to happen.

Even though the article did not go into this, it is remarkable that "buying votes" can actually happen. This implies something about the decision making process of the fellow citizens, and their power to discriminate goodness from badness.

A Russian view of politicians

Here is a (sardonic) Russian view on politicians. My loose translation:

"On the eve of elections politicians start to love Motherland so much, that it resembles a gang rape."