James Thompson on Reality

Thompson writes:  

I do not wish to accuse my readers of being economists, sociologists or anthropologists, but I am willing to bet that some of you think that the way your parents brought you up, and the schools and community you were raised in, had a big influence on your later achievements in life.

A reasonable belief, but probably a mistaken one.

In fact, it is likely that all that matters is who your parents were, by which I mean your blood parents. Furthermore, conceiving you was the big step, and the rest was due to your being kept alive, and little more.

Pic.: Fate cutting the thread of life. The Greeks imagined three Moirai - spinners -: Clotho, Lachesis, and Anthropos, cutting short the length of human life. 

I want it

 

While I am healing from the COVID-19 attack, a Bavarian firm selling native volk stuff sent me an ad. They must have a very intelligent AI because I want it. When arrived in Vienna in 1956 after the Hungarian Revolution, we refugees were presented with used items, very clean and well kept. I loved my Alpine dead-goat-skin pants (aka lederhosen) and at this senile stage of my life, long for one.

I also wanted an American surplus military jacket but did not get one. My uncle lent me his but it had side openings that let the cold in. It was uncomfortable and wondered how American soldiers used it in winter. 

Another Backdown in China

 

A rare backdown. Beijing cancels China's first Covid vaccine mandate after less than 48 hours. The capital's residents had called the requirement an illegal limitation on their freedom and questioned how effective the vaccines are against omicron.

I think the backdown is a show of strength. But it also shows that they are a big bunch of crazy hypochondriacs.

The perfect present for Beijingers: Black lights—those lights that emit ultraviolet light—can quickly become a favorite tool in the hands of the right hypochondriac. When ultraviolet light shines, several everyday materials absorb that light and reflect it back. These materials include bodily fluids like urine and blood. If you have that friend who is obsessed with keeping their bathroom clean or is perpetually fearful that the family pet has peed somewhere in the house, this little high-tech flashlight can be a big help.

Ice Cream on Crete

 

Monster

 

He/She killed 7 persons in Chicago, four of them Jewish. Apparently, dressed as a female. 

Post COVID mental fog

 
I am healing from the coronavirus but I do feel the fog. Maybe it is the end of my working life. Who knows? There is a definite impairment of cognitive function. The Chinese discovered this two years ago.  So it appears that the Chinese strategy of total quarantine was justified. Now I have to live with it. 

Excess liquidity

 

Central Banks are creating too much liquidity and depreciating the real worth of their currency. The bourse's daily re-evaluation of the real worth of companies is based on the fear of losing money and therefore irrational and wrong. I have to think it all over. 

Why should I fear losing money? I need no more money. My children are all set up. Anyway, as Prof Thompson says  (https://www.unz.com/jthompson/social-immobility), apart from maintaining them in life, nothing that I can do will help them. It was obvious to me forever.