Don't just sit there, mourning the US republic, do something

 There are an awful lot of problems facing the US that are too big for an individual to do something about. But there are an awful lot of problems small enough to fix by individual effort but still not being fixed. 

I think a lot of that is people feeling overwhelmed and giving up on doing something because what's the point? The big stuff is going to make things worse anyway. But even if the inevitability of a national divorce happens, the pothole on your street is still annoying, still needs fixing, and you can make that happen. 

Oh look at that dust

 Life's changed quite a bit since I wrote here last. Cancer (in remission) and losing my parents are the big ones. It all gives a changed perspective about life. 

I don't feel like starting a new blog, so here I am again. 

Monkeybread software filemaker plugin download coinmarketcap map using CURL

Download coinmarket cap list of all the coins and tokens it tracks using Monkeybread software's Filemaker plugin and FMPA 15. Here's the script text:

Set Variable [ $curl ; Value: MBS("CURL.New") ] 

Set Variable [ $result ; Value: MBS("CURL.SetOptionURL"; $curl; "http://pro-api.coinmarketcap.com/v1/cryptocurrency/map") ] 

Set Variable [ $result ; Value: MBS("curl.SetOptionHTTPHeader";$curl;"Limit: 6000";      "Postman-Token: <<No you don't get the postman token>>" ;      "X-CMC_PRO_API_KEY: <<No you don't get my API key>>" ;     "cache-control: no-cache" ;     "listing_status: active" ;     "start: 1") ] 

Set Field [ CURL Test::Result ; MBS("CURL.Perform"; $curl) ] 

Set Field [ CURL Test::Content ; MBS("CURL.GetResultAsText"; $curl) ] 

Set Field [ CURL Test::debug ; MBS("CURL.GetDebugAsText"; $curl) ] 

Set Field [ CURL Test::header ; MBS("CURL.GetHeaderAsText"; $curl) ] 

Set Variable [ $result ; Value: MBS("CURL.Cleanup"; $curl) ] 

Blow the dust off this thing

Currently looking to document some FileMaker work that doesn't seem to be done anywhere else and this personal blog looks to be as good a place as any to do that. More later today. 

I do much of my writing on Quora these days but as I don't control that platform, I occasionally get content deleted. Here's the latest:

"You missed the turning point. You’re still missing it. President Trump pays to maintain his own private security as President. This decision happened prior to the election. Candidate Trump did it.

President Trump makes the Secret Service HQ outside of Trump Tower. His stated reason was that when Donald Trump was effectively bargaining on both sides of the table, the amount that the Trump Organization was charging the Secret Service was too much to justify the Secret Service footprint to guard President Donald Trump.

What a load of horse hockey pucks.

This is an administration that walked into the White House without the full confidence of the President that he was physically safe if he solely relied on the government to secure him.

That judgment has never changed. It’s not something that is even debated much as a serious issue.

It is *the* issue.

Is the government of the United States safe to trust with the life of the President of the United States? If the answer is no, no bit of horsetrading for favors or even venal corruption matters. We’ve functionally lost representative government and we’re not a republic and Donald Trump is going to get all the support he needs from the right to clean house.

If the President *is* safe but is so paranoid that he runs his own private security anyway, well, that’s actually the best 25th amendment replacement argument out there. But the Democrats, even the rabid ones on the far left who call Donald Trump an actual traitor, have never touched it."

An appeal is filed. 

Trump is being allowed to get away with a bunch of venal sins because he's right on the big issues and the biggest issue of all is the continuation of the US republic. 

Is it time for the internet plus one?

A question that is rolling around in my head:

Is the threat of internet censorship at a level where prudent people should diversify their 21st century communication and economy efforts to create personal and corporate Internet plus one strategies?

Weight loss practice

Let's see how disciplined I actually can be.

I am one overweight fellow.
I need to fix that.
Today I weighed in at 300.0 pounds

This is actually an improvement over my all time peak of 315.

Target weight is 195.
Weekly goal is 2 lbs loss per week.

Daily weigh ins start now.

The foreseeable challenge is when life happens and I get knocked off rhythm. Getting back into pattern always defeats me up to now.

Trying a bit of twitter activism

I've been saying that publishing what govt does, what the standard of performance is, and the actual performance for each item would revolutionize the country for years, then I saw this

Kellyanne Conway: "White House & media are going to share joint custody of this nation for 8 years. We ought to figure out how to co-parent"

— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) January 24, 2017

Any serious takers? https://t.co/GhFfaJLtxC

— Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) January 24, 2017

So I volunteered. No idea if she's going to even read it, much less respond. We'll see.

Well that blew up

Lost my post for the third and the partial for the fourth. Time to regroup and create something that is not so susceptible to fat finger errors.

RCP 2012.01.02 review

This is a daily report I'm starting up in order to find and create Citizen Intelligence government oversight widgets by simply taking the meat of what's already getting written and putting it into a form that a computer can automatically update a widget automatically and inexpensively. Articles that have no potential widgets are labeled as no substance because, for my purposes, there's nothing usable there. 

RealClearPolitics Morning Edition

The Art of Getting to Know Trump

Salena Zito, Washington Examiner
No substance whatsoever, just an evaluation of Trump and an exhortation to read his book.

Lessons From the Media's Failures in Its Year With Trump

Nicholas Kristof, NY Times

The media failed to cover Trump properly, a truism
The media is insufficiently diverse and not just in terms of skin color - potential report, how diverse is your media?
The media should work harder to debunk false stories, welcome to the party
A great deal of pap about focusing on substance without any suggestion on how to do it sustainably

President Obama's Not So Glorious Legacy

Joel Kotkin, Orange County Register

Obama peaked early and couldn't live up to high early expectations. 

Obama made race relations worse - potential report, how are race relations?
Obama made economy modestly recover - potential report, evaluating presidential economic performance fairly

The Return of Civil Disobedience

Jelani Cobb, The New Yorker
No substance whatsoever, Trump's awful, sort of like Nixon but probably worse. Prepare for street violence. 

PC Police Crack Down on...Kids Books

Meghan Gurdon, Wall Street Journal
Listing a number of literary works aimed at children that people tried to get banned. 

A Year to Protect Democracy

E.J. Dionne, Washington Post
One sided anti-right call to arms to protect democracy.
An entire category of potential reports to monitor democracy health, no direct inspiration. 

Why Did Obama Pander to UN's Stunning Anti-Israel Bias?

Maajid Nawaz, Daily Beast
The UN is disproportionately anti-Israel - potential report, UN condemnations by country vs size of offense
The US sided with anti-Israel bigots

Kremlin Response to Obama? Laughter

Monica Showalter, American Thinker
No substance whatsoever, Russia's taunting Obama

Marshall Plans, Not Martial Plans

Sen. Chris Murphy, New York Times
No substanc whatsoever, Syria's a disaster and we should send money to stabilize Lebanon & Jordan. 

Democrats Face Rough Electoral Path to the Midterms

Matt Mackowiak, NY Observer
No substance whatsoever, discussion of Senate map which favors Republicans in 2018

Violence in the Halls, Disorder in the Malls

Heather Mac Donald, City Journal
Flash mob and school violence are paired but evidence is being suppressed by race policy - potential report, accurate race attribution of violence by geographic area. Potential report - disruptive student treatment by school/school district

School Choice for Children Who Have None

Fred Hiatt, Washington Post
Fund school choice for poor kids. Fund education by attaching the money to kids, not schools. Potential report - jurisdictions that have/are discussing family funding

2016 Politics in One Word--Sad!

Carl Cannon, Orange County Register
No substance whatsoever, everybody but GW Bush is acting like a juvenile. 

Four of 2016's Worst Political Faceplants

Eddie Zipperer, LifeZette
No substance whatsoever, counting coup on 2016 political losers, Kasich, Huelskamp, Silver, Clinton. 

Why Google's Larry Page Is Pouring Millions Into Flying Cars

Timothy Lee, Vox
No substance whatsoever, neat technology article on progress on flying cars. 

Advice for Donald Trump: 10 Ways to Cut Waste

Adam Andrzejewski, Forbes
Plenty of meat here with a report for nine of the ten ways to cut waste. Potential report - track arming of federal regulatory agencies. Potential report - track the number of lawyers at EPA (too few/too many). Potential report - sanctuary cities receipt of federal dollars. Potential report - Agency PR expenditures. Potential report - small business lending to non-small business by sector and by year. Potential report - document Ex-im bank transactions. Potential report - monitor ivy-league federal spending. Potential report - monitor VA wait times by service area. Potential report - identify lavishly compensated non-federal employees and match that up with federal assistance to pay for those over-expensive salaries

Something About This Russia Hacking Story Stinks

Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone
No substance whatsoever, there's a lot of discussion about the stink coming off this Russian hacking story but nothing that seems suitable for an ongoing report. 

RealClearPolitics Afternoon Edition

Priebus Faces Daunting Task Bringing Order to White House

Karen Tumulty, WP
No substance whatsoever, predictions on likely chaos if Priebus isn't elevated and normal order established. 

2016's Biggest Loser: Big Green

Stephen Moore, Investor's Business Daily
No substance whatsoever, horserace handicapping Big Green as the big loser in 2016. 

For Democrats, Some Slivers of Hope

Michael Cohen, Boston Globe
No substance whatsoever, wishful thinking about how much better it might be for Democrats in 2018 and 2020. 

2017 to Be Year of Massive Change in Washington

James Antle, Washington Examiner
No substance whatsoever, predictions on what's to be done for 2017. 

Trump Is Unpopular, and So Is the Republican Agenda

Jamelle Bouie, Slate
No substance whatsoever, do not worry to the point of depression Democrats, it's actually not as bad as you think. 

Defund the United Nations

Rich Lowry, New York Post
No substance whatsoever, the UN is awful and should be defunded or significantly cut back. 

Obama Puts Trump on the Spot With Russia Sanctions

Frida Ghitis, CNN
No substance whatsoever, more inside baseball of no lasting significance. 

Newsflash: Russia Is Not the Soviet Union

Doug Bandow, The National Interest
No substance whatsoever, conciliatory spin minimizing the threat from Russia. 

The Left's Indecent Proposal for Appointing Garland

Bill Scher, RealClearPolitics
Not much substance here, though perhaps... Potential report - recess clocks counting down when President can fill without Senate

How Trump Made Hatred Profitable for Milo Yiannopoulos

Ruth Ben-Ghiat, CNN
No substance whatsoever, apparently the author thinks Trump is also a dangerous faggot. 

Political Correctness Dies Hard

Robert Knight, Washington Times
No substance whatsoever, illustrations of ridiculous PC. 

Things I learned from patients thread

78 forum pages (at time of posting) of short vignettes of how crazy doctoring can be. The thread started in 2003 and is still going strong.

liar liar pants on fire

I have a conversation on Quora where the person I was talking to deleted a comment and is now claiming that they did not. Here's the relevant screen shot just so it can be preserved at an url that she can't get rid of. 

It's official

I've ceased to be a lazy bum who didn't shave and now officially have a beard. This morning was the first time I actually did a bit of grooming to manage it. 

Right now my family's split between new house in North Charleston, SC and old house in Munster, IN and all the anti-beard members of the family are in new house while I work on getting the old house in shape to sell. I've got a hard date of mid November to get this done and move but hope to be out of the midwest sometime in October. 

Military Corruption

Strategy Page has an important article on a form of military corruption that is growing in the US. Unfortunately, some people don't seem to intuitively get how the phenomenon of micromanagement on the field of battle is corrupt and the article doesn't lay out its "j'accuse" thesis clearly enough to make it clear to all. Senior military officials and politicians are offloading their career risk of something bad happening in the field by stretching out the OODA loop of combat troops. This increases the chance that people die and a given combat mission fails. Protecting the career of a president or a flag rank officer with the blood of some private out in the field is corrupt, offensively so. Even if nobody dies and the cost is merely extending a firefight by half an hour, that is half an hour extra that the team is playing the PTSD game of russian roulette. There is no cost free way to micromanage. There are just ways to do it that are visibly cost free for the people in DC.

Here's the comment I put at the article:

We know that delays getting wounded to medical care increase deaths beyond what is unavoidable. The "golden hour" is something that has been identified as a metric that is important and that's right and proper. But micromanagement kills too and that appears not to be as universally recognized with no metrics to track it and blame to apportion when it happens. It is stretching out the combatants OODA loop which increases the chance we lose or at least take greater casualties than otherwise necessary. 

We need to measure the phenomenon and attach consequences to the abuse. The computing power needed to do this is available. When command knows that there is a timer going on every time they stick their nose in and that their names will attach to casualties caused by their intervention, the problem of micromanagement will shrink because we will have a feedback loop to punish those who engage in inappropriate intervention. 

The fact that we have not embedded this feedback loop and are increasing the risk enlisted and junior officers take unnecessarily is a corrupt offloading of risk from seniors who are engaging in career protection to juniors who bleed for it.

HT: Instapundit

Restoring the Caliphate is an imperial project

Words have meaning. It seems perfectly obvious to me that the Caliph leads the Caliphate and that the caliphate is the multi-national collection of islamic states. In general terms, the Caliph is an emperor, which makes restoring the caliphate an imperial project, and radical islam, which wants to restore the caliphate, an imperialist venture.

Then the world turns upside down.

The putatively anti-imperialist forces in the west on the left tend to be the softest when it comes to radical islam. Bill Maher has made left wing softness on radical islam a major theme of his career. But even Maher doesn't look at radical islam in terms of empire. For him, his opposition is part and parcel of his deep commitment to atheism. To him radical Islam is just religion on steroids.

Finding anti-imperial critiques of radical islam arising from the left is tough going. This provides an opportunity to call out the left and for a new left to arise that is authentically anti-imperialist no matter where imperialism arises.

Linus promotes competence, attacked for it by Social Justice Warriors

The Linux community needs to kick out Linus Torvalds.
— Shanley (@shanley) January 15, 2015

 This is in response to a Q&A session in New Zealand where Linus made it very clear that competence and good code are most important for him and everything else is just an also ran when it comes to the Linux kernel. For him, diversity didn't rate at all. In the inevitable partial walkbalk followup, Linus tosses more salt in SJW wounds by raising the importance of diversity along other poles. The importance of genital equipment to programming continues to elude him.

At least @shanley gets one thing right. When you're launching an attack on the Internet, attack someone bigger and more important than you.

An Idiot's Guide to Distinguishing the Baga attack from the Paris attack

It seems someone needs to write this because some writers have exposed themselves as idiots who can't tell the difference between the attacks in Baga and Paris without making ugly racist accusations. 

1. Paris is a world capital in a country that generally believed itself not at war on its own territory. Combat breaking out in such a capital is big news. When capitals fall, regimes fall. Baga is a remote border town that is not even the capital of its local state. It has come under attack within the past two years and it's likely to happen again during the next two years as things go. 

2. Boko Haram is a significant military force that at least sort of fits within the standard framework of how people go to war in the modern age. The irregulars attacking in Paris are an example of a systemic threat to the Westphalian system that has undergirded how nations interact with each other since the peace of Westphalia in 1648. If Westphalia goes, a lot of things change. If Boko Haram takes even a province or two, nothing systemic changes. 

3. Nigeria's rulers have decided that it is in their interest to minimize the tragedy of Baga. France's rulers have decided that it is in their interests to play up the tragedy of Paris. The rest of the world's leadership rightfully take cues from the leader of the country in which the attack has taken place. 

4. There is a political affinity between France's governing party (socialist) and the marxists that put out Charlie Hebdo. There is a political rivalry between the muslim north (where Baga is) and the christian south (where the current government is drawn from). This naturally leads to different treatment. While it's unfortunate, race has nothing to do with it in either case. 

Education

Is it just me or are people looking to expand the time spent on preparing for life while shrinking the time spent actually living life productively? Instead of proposing free community college, turning the secondary education system into grades K-14, wouldn't it make more sense to work to stuff more learning into the present time available?

The problem with my proposal is that we'd have to pay attention, seriously ask what is school for, and take action to fix what ails the education/employment system. There are entrenched interests standing in the way of that conversation and the likelihood of success is low. So why not just whistle past the graveyard as another year is lost by kids being taught inefficiently and ineffectively?

Je Suis Charlie

Islamic radicals, with their usual style, have asked the world to repeat Everybody Draw Mohammad Day. As before this has caught me by surprise so I will simply repeat my earlier entry.

Is it draw Mo day already?

Here's something from the Mohammed Image Archive, a reproduction of Islamic art. 

 

Ok, I'm ready for my fatwa now.

This sort of image of Mohammed, illustrated by muslims, is just as blasphemous to the iconoclastic primitives who just murdered a dozen french satirists in Paris as any of the other cartoons and drawings floating around. I picked it because we should not forget that these barbarians want to murder Islam's past as much as our present.

#IAmCharlie

Free association

This is going to be an occasional series of notes to help me fix half formed thoughts, and nail down concepts that sound pretty good inside my head.

The inaugural one is this:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State

What are the necessary and proper 10th amendment rights retained by the people that are implied by this clause of the 2nd amendment? 

The anti-gunners never ask this question and I've never seen the pro-gun side ask this either. Is there any literature on this subject?