Posts

For Gerard

 Many moons ago, I started reading blogs and shortly thereafter I started reading them.  I became discouraged because I read many writers, far more talented than me and the ease with which they elucidated the very points I wanted to make but so much more elegantly and completely that I just gave up.    Gerard of American Digest was one such writer.  His facility with prose and his ability to evoke emotion was remarkable.  I linked to him once with my nascent blog and he was kind enough to reach out to me and thank me for the link.  I literally had zero readers.  Just like now.  But that was the measure of the man.  He took the time to reach out to me and genuinely thank me for the link.   The closest I ever had to meeting the man was meeting Morgan in person.  Morgan and Gerard were friends.  They had an evident mutual respect for their respective works.   I never met Gerard, didn't know the man personally but having read his work I had a sense of the man.  He's dying now.  If

The false dichotomy of Ukraine or Russia

 Its very strange to me to see some sort of weird binary set up where you have to be either Pro Ukraine or Pro Russia.  You are perceived as either Pro Nazi or Pro Putin/Pro Invasion depending on what your detractors think of you.  Frankly, I'm not sure where I land on this one.  The Nazi thing is more complicated than people realize.  I've read something online (which means it must be true?) that the Nazi imagery goes back to WWII era when the Soviets were very enthusiastically killing Ukrainians and the Nazis were actually stopping them from doing so.  Ukrainians decided to join the Nazis to stop the slaughter.  So it may be this is not really about racial purity or Nazism per se but about countering Soviet aggression.  Is this true?  I don't know but it's possible.   On the other side you have Russians who think the Ukrainians are indeed Nazis and therefore dangerous and need clearing out or this is a convenient fig leaf for re-establishing Greater Russia.  You decid

A few quick things

 Here's an interesting breakdown of how advertising works and the psychology behind it. This one by Dennis Prager, explains why we're all becoming " Good Germans ".   American Thinker has a very long piece from eyewitnesses that describe what happened at the capitol .  I'm sure the article is truthful but there's no way it can be comprehensive of definitive.   Short post.  Hope to have more soon.

Since I've been gone....

     Much has happened since I've been gone.  Not least of all with politics and my views on politics and economics.  I was (and in a way remain) libertarian.  I first registered as a Libertarian when I moved to Delaware in the late 90's.  I think it had a lot to do with my views on liberty and dissatisfaction with the state of the Republican party which was my previous political home.  I firmly believed that greed was a more powerful force than almost everything else and pursuing that greed would lead to people, companies and even countries to put aside their petty squabbling and all go along to get along.  We'd be able to farm out our basic manufacturing (or undesirable manufacturing) to developing nations.  They'd be fat, dumb and happy.  Making money would make them comfortable and prosperous and it would usher in a new age of trade and peace.  I could not have been more wrong.      As we've seen with Hollywood and Silicon Valley, they are very willing, even e

Search results

So, I was just looking at the stats page and I learned a few things.  First, that I'd reach more people if I gave up blogging and went back to yelling at people on street corners and public parks.  (I'd probably get more feedback too).  Second, the search results that bring people here are as follows: Search Keywords Entry Pageviews graphs on school uniforms 89 firststate.blogspot.com 85 project management funny 73 candid camera gone wrong 72 funny pictures 48 "how to punch people" 40 funny graphs 40 I have so many questions.  What does "graphs on school uniforms" even mean?  Like sales projections?  Are you looking to see actual graphs painted on the uniforms?  This is my ALL TIME high search item.  How?  How am I, in any way, related to such a thing?  

Am I back?

Maybe.  I'm not sure.  I feel like I have something to say even though I know no one is really listening.   Blogs are dead and Twitter killed them.  I know.  We're in a 140 character world and I'm not doing that.  I first heard about Twitter when it launched and I was intrigued.  Now I think its shallow, vapid and far, far worse than the blogosphere ever was at its nadir.  I'll stay here and grind it out in The Outer Darkness of the internet.  I've never garnered a following worth anything and for good reason.  My content has mostly been half assed and dashed off stuff like this.  If you're reading this, I'm wondering why.  Anyway.  I've been thinking about this for a long time and the reason I could never really get any traction here is that in order to do so I'd have to have some exceptional insight into politics (I rarely do.  If ever) or I'd have to tell a compelling personal story.  I'm too much of a private person to open those floodg

Quote of the day #2

“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom - go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!” ~ Samuel Adams ~

Quote of the Day

Then out spake brave Horatius,   The Captain of the gate: “To every man upon this earth   Death cometh soon or late.    And how can man die better   Than facing fearful odds For the ashes of his fathers   And the temples of his gods, Horatius at the Bridge Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay (1800–1859)