"Don't hurt people and don't take their stuff" - Matt Kibbe

11/21/18

Thanksgiving Prayer Q&A

By Grant Davies

It's Thanksgiving 2018 and I hope believers remember to offer a prayer of thanks.

Not everyone wants to pray in the company of others because they aren't sure of the rules. It can sometimes be awkward, even for the faithful.

So if you are a person who prays on Thanksgiving but wants to feel comfortable at the feast, here is a quick Q&A to set you at ease before you ease your butt into the chair at the turkey table.

If you are one of those uncomfortable people, I'm thankful to be of service to you. You may thank me later.

Official rules are courtesy of John Crist.



3/16/18

History is a Bitch

By Grant Davies

History is a bitch.

While Russia (and others apparently) continue to try to hack into our power grid, the media continues to focus on others attempting to meddle in our elections, with no apparent success.

Our people are dumb enough on their own to elect imbeciles to office.

So, let's look at what the US has always done to elect or depose governments in other countries. (And no, this is not an attack on our own country by me, or Ben Swann.)

Then we can focus on actual problems instead of trying to stop the "meddling" that every country on earth tries to do when they think it is in their own best interests.


3/8/18

A Tax is a Tax is a Tax is a Tariff

By Grant Davies

Any economist worth their degree will tell you that tariffs are nothing more than taxes. 

So when anyone - in this case, Trump and his merry band of anti-traders - tell you that they are lowering taxes on you while making trade "more fair",  it might pay to examine the claim to see it for what it is. 

The question is: who is being taxed by tariffs? 

Is it another country, perhaps China? A company, like one of twenty or so Chinese steel companies? Umm, no. The correct answer is YOU, the consumer. 

The price you pay for many items is going to rise if the tariffs Trump is threatening are made to occur. And the "YUGE"  costs enacted on everyone in the world if a trade war ensues will be paid by people, not countries and not companies. 

That's rich people and poor people and everyone in between. Because only people pay taxes in the end.

So let's call a spade a spade. And in this global game of Euchre, spades are trump.

2/15/18

I'm in Agreement With the Tree Huggers

By Grant Davies
The idea that I would normally spend much time reading from a site like "Tree Hugger" dot com seems far fetched.

I love the earth we live on as much as any of the "huggers" do. But much of the environmental "science" among that group in general can only be classified as political science.
So I go where the actual science leads me and in this case it led me to Canada and their tree-huggers. The title of this post is a "hook" to see if I can interest anyone in the actual topic I want to address.

That topic is my quest for information regarding diabetes, obesity, and the associated diseases that plague modern society and are killing us and our children. (It's for the children, dontcha know) This is not to mention bankrupting the healthcare system in the US as well as other countries.

It seems there is a large number of primary care physicians in Canada, (well over 700 and counting)  who are urging the government there to trash the old nutrition guidelines in favor of actual science. In my opinion, it is not hyperbole to say it's a matter of life and death.

People in general, and people in government in particular, are loathe to admit being in error. Long held beliefs are the hardest ones to admit we were wrong about. But when the beliefs are causing disease, the stakes are higher. 

Even then, it seems that governments are more interested in saving face than saving your life. Their credibility takes precedence over your well being.

The "science" that has led us to being a population of waddlers and roly-poly customers of the drug companies was wrong, spectacularly so. And a look around you as you go through the supermarket checkout line is all the evidence you need to confirm that conclusion. Obese children by the millions are especially heartbreaking.

It ain't the handheld devices and video games that made them fat folks, it's the poison in the shopping cart. (Don't get me started on the devices, that's a different topic) And I'm not blaming the parents (not yet anyway) because they have been misled by the media, the government, and yes, even their doctors. And as I opined in a previous post, sugar is addictive, and we are all addicts. 

Perhaps the government has kept us focused on drug dealers getting our kids hooked on heroin so we wouldn't notice that General Mills and Archer Daniels have been hooking them on sugar for generations. They sure got me hooked. You can decide for yourself whether that was purposeful or not. I won't go there in this essay.

So back to the point. Doctors in Canada have finally figured out that they need to stop the madness and get the government there to admit the mistake and begin the healing. Maybe if they admit it first it will encourage other governments to come clean. Like for instance, the US.
It will have to happen eventually when the system of treating illnesses with insanely expensive drugs (instead of preventing them and curing them in the first place with education), collapses under the costs. 
It's well to remember, pharmaceutical companies aren't in the business of curing disease, they are in the business of treating it. You can't blame them for that.  There is no money to be made in changing what people eat. It's our job to take ownership of ourselves and our health.

The links below will take you to the story.


"The updated Canada Food Guide, slated for 2018, should reflect the latest dietary science, even if it goes against what people have been taught for decades."

"A significant number of Canadian physicians are frustrated with the Ministry of Health. Canada's government is in the process of revising its national dietary guidelines for the first time in a decade, and a group of more than 715 physicians and allied health professionals worry that the new guidelines will not reflect the latest dietary science. Previously, the guidelines were based on the low-fat, high-carbohydrate model that has dominated nutritional advice for the past 50 years but has since been shown to be deeply flawed; however, it appears the government believes otherwise,"  read the rest here.

1/30/18

Don't Rule It Out


I received the following speculations about the future in a forwarded email. (Hat tip M.Tobin) They are attributed to the "Head of Daimler Benz." I have no idea about whether that is true or not and I didn't try to look it up because, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." 

It's merely a vehicle for entertainment and it's always fun to make wild predictions about the future. I have a feeling that a lot of the predictions will come true at some point. I guess it would be cool if the email was right (for once) and the head of Daimler did give a talk like this, but it's irrelevant to me. Suffice it to say the world is changing at a pace that is hard to fathom nowadays, but it has been doing that for a long time. 

For the last few years I have made a habit out of thinking, "I wouldn't rule that out", when it came to things I formerly thought were preposterous notions. You would be amazed at the things I don't rule out anymore.

So have some fun with speculating about these things and resist the temptation to rule things out.

 

In a recent interview, the Head of Daimler Benz (Mercedes Benz) said their competitors are no longer other car companies, but Tesla (obviously), and now, Google, Apple, Amazon 'et al' are……
Software will disrupt most traditional industries in the next 5-10 years..
Uber is just a software tool, they don't own any cars, and are now the biggest taxi company in the world. Airbnb is now the biggest hotel company in the world, although they don't own any properties. 
Artificial Intelligence:  Computers become exponentially better in understanding the world.  This year, a computer beat the best Go player in the world, 10 years earlier than expected. 
In the U.S., young lawyers already can't get jobs.  Because of IBM Watson, you can get legal advice (so far for more or less basic stuff) within seconds, with 90% accuracy compared with 70% accuracy when done by humans. So, if you study law, stop immediately.  There will be 90% less lawyers in the future, only specialists will remain.
Watson already helps nurses diagnosing cancer, 4 times more accurate than human nurses.  Facebook now has a pattern recognition software that can recognize faces better than humans. In 2030, computers will become more intelligent than humans.
Autonomous cars: In 2018 the first self-driving cars will appear for the public.  Around 2020, the complete industry will start to be disrupted.  You don't want to own a car anymore..   You will call a car with your phone, it will show up at your location and drive you to your destination.   You will not need to park it, you only pay for the driven distance and you can be productive while driving.   Our kids will never get a driver's license and will never own a car.
It will change the cities, because we will need 90-95% less cars for that.  We can transform former parking spaces into parks.
1.2 million people die each year in car accidents worldwide..  We now have one accident every  60,000 miles (100,000 km), with autonomous driving that will drop to one accident in 6 million miles (10 million km).  That will save a million lives each year.
Most car companies will probably go bankrupt.  Traditional car companies will try the traditional approach and try to build a better car, while tech companies (Tesla, Apple, Google) will take the revolutionary approach and build a computer on wheels. Many engineers from Volkswagen and Audi are completely terrified of Tesla.
Auto Insurance companies will have massive trouble because without accidents, car insurance will become much cheaper.  Their car insurance business model will slowly disappear. Real estate will change.  Because if you can work while you commute, people will move further away to live in a more beautiful neighborhood.
Electric cars will become mainstream about 2020.  Cities will be less noisy because all new cars will run on electricity.  Electricity will become incredibly cheap and clean:  Solar production has been on an exponential curve for 30 years, and now you can now see the burgeoning impact.
Last year, more solar energy was installed worldwide than fossil.   Energy companies are desperately trying to limit access to the grid to prevent competition from home solar installations, but that can't last.  Technology will take care of that strategy.
With cheap electricity comes cheap and abundant water.  Desalination of salt water now only needs 2kwh per cubic meter (@ 0.25 cents).  We don't have scarce water in most places, we only have scarce drinking water..  Imagine what will be possible if anyone can have as much clean water as he wants, for nearly no cost.
Health innovations:   The Tricorder X price will be announced this year.  There are companies who will build a medical device (called the "Tricorder" from Star Trek) that works with your phone, which takes your retina scan, your blood sample, and you can breath into it.
It then analyses 54 biomarkers that will identify nearly any disease.  It will be cheap, so in a few years everyone on this planet will have access to world class medical analysis, nearly for free.  Goodbye, medical establishment.
3D printing:  The price of the cheapest 3D printer came down from $18,000 to $400 within 10 years.  In the same time, it became 100 times faster.  All major shoe companies have already started 3D printing shoes. Some common spare airplane parts are already 3D printed in remote airports.  The space station now has a printer that eliminates the need for the large amount of spare parts they used to keep in the past. At the end of this year, new smart phones will have 3D scanning possibilities.  You can then 3D scan your feet and print your perfect shoes at home.
In China, they already 3D printed and built a complete 6-storey office building.  By 2027, 10% of everything that's being produced will be 3D printed.
Business opportunities:  If you think of a niche you want to go in, ask yourself:  "In the future, do you think we will have that?", and if the answer is yes, how can you make that happen sooner?
If it doesn't work with your phone, forget the idea.  And any idea designed for success in the 20th century is doomed to failure in the 21st century. Work: 70-80% of jobs will disappear in the next 20 years.  There will be a lot of new jobs, but it is not clear if there will be enough new jobs in such a small time.
Agriculture:  There will be a $100 agricultural robot in the future. Farmers in 3rd world countries can then become managers of their field instead of working all day on their fields.
Aeroponics will need much less water.   The first Petri dish that produced veal is now available and will be cheaper than cow produced veal in 2018.   Right now, 30% of all agricultural surfaces is used for cows.  Imagine if we don't need that space anymore.
There are several startups who will bring insect protein to the market shortly.. It contains more protein than meat.   It will be labeled as "alternative protein source" (because most people still reject the idea of eating insects).
There is an app called "moodies" which can already tell in which mood you're in.  By 2020 there will be apps that can tell by your facial expressions, if you are lying.   Imagine a political debate where it's being displayed when they're telling the truth and when they're not.
 Bitcoin may even become the default reserve currency ... Of the world!
Education:   The cheapest smart phones are already at $10 in Africa and Asia.  By 2020, 70% of all humans will own a smart phone.  That means, everyone has the same access to world class education.
Every child can use Khan academy for everything a child needs to learn at school in First World countries. There have already been releases of software in Indonesia and soon there will be releases in Arabic, Swahili, and Chinese this summer.  I can see enormous potential if we give the English app for free, so that children in Africa and everywhere else can become fluent in English.  And that could happen within half a year.
Are you ready for all this?!?!