Nina Cried Power

The thing about the Harry Potters books is that they are... okay. That's it. Not bad, not amazing, but okay. Written for a younger reader they made lots of strong morals points, but they also made use of quite a few lazy archetypes, to keep the stories easy to follow and understand. The obvious one is the Goblins similarity to how Jews were depicted, but others are more subtle. The 'thing' that made Harry Potter so successful was the movies, and the 'thing' that made the movies so great was the casting. JK Rowling insisting a Britsh cast, to fit the writing, was her contribution to the world, (although Great Britain in particular), and something I will always be grateful for. The subsequent buzz about her Trans views was probably more of a reflection on how Social Media works to stir up hatred. Rather than accept one unfortunate comment as ill judged it became a line where sides could be taken, division sown, battles fought, and advertising revenue reaped. By the ti

As I was watching the news a report came on about a very sad event in Rotterdam, and this sparked a chain of thought about AI writing stories.  On the screen was a picture of somewhere in Rotterdam where the tragedy had taken place, and I thought, that could be anywhere. It could be Liverpool, or Rome. Now I'm guessing that about half of you will get that reference, and please accept my apologies for the ear worm.  But an AI reading that won't get it and will learn nothing about writing from reading it. And even if it were explained to the AI, the AI has no life experiences to draw on to write anything original. And the difference between good writing and great writing, (which doesn't include my humble ranting), is that so much of it is not understood by every reader. Indeed very few readers will get all the connections the author makes. You can read the same book years later and have a very different understanding of it. You can enjoy the book without getting any of the re

Oh, sinnerman, where you gonna run to? Sinnerman where you gonna run to? Where you gonna run to? All on that day We got to run to the rock Please hide me, I run to the rock Please hide me, run to the rock Please hide here All on that day But the rock cried out I can't hide you, the rock cried out I can't hide you, the rock cried out I ain't gonna hide you there All on that day I said rock What's the matter with you rock? Don't you see I need you, rock? Good Lord, Lord All on that day So I run to the river It was bleedin', I run to the sea It was bleedin', I run to the sea It was bleedin', all on that day So I run to the river It was boilin', I run to the sea It was boilin', I run to the sea It was boilin', all on that day So I run to the Lord Please hide me, Lord Don't you see me prayin'? Don't you see me down here prayin'? But the Lord said Go to the Devil, the Lord said Go to the Devil He said go to the Devil All on that day

I think the argument to pay higher wages is a trick that actually makes people worse off because it shifts the balance of society towards greater personal responsibility. This sounds like a positive step but where previously there was collective responsibility in that taxes were paid and spent in ways that benefitted the country, personal responsibility is a way for people to pay less tax for the benefit of themselves.  Problem one is fewer people acting in ways that benefit the country. Problem two is that people need higher wages to pay for those things that have now become their personal responsibility. And that is the trick. People are given back less than they gain, and told asking for more will be inflationary. Meanwhile, somebody else pockets the difference, either for their own greed, or to delay the collapse of capitalism a little longer in a void of ideas for a better system.

Entrepreneurship is like one of those carnival games where you throw darts or something. Middle class kids can afford one throw. Most miss. A few hit the target and get a small prize. A very few hit the center bullseye and get a bigger prize. Rags to Riches! The American Dream lives on. Rich kids can afford many throws. If they want to, they can try over and over again until they hit something and feel good about themselves. Some keep going until they hit the center bullseye, then they give speeches or write blog posts about "meritocracy" and the salutary effects of hard work. Poor kids aren't visiting the carnival. They're the ones working on it. Credit:notacoward on Nov 9 2017

"When you notice that to produce you need to get permission from those who do not produce anything; when you check that money flows to those who do not deal with goods but with favors; when you realize that many become rich by the bribery and for influence more than by your work and that the laws do not protect you against them, but on the contrary, they are the ones who are protected against you; when you discover that corruption is rewarded and honesty becomes a self-sacrifice, then you can assert, without fear of being wrong, that your society is doomed" Ayn Rand