I am not running a crazy amount of extensions:

• AdBlockPlus
• ColorfulTabs
• Context Menus Plus
• Download Status Bar
• Flashblock
• HTTPS-Everywhere
• InFormEnter
• Link Alert
• PDF Download
• Power Twitter
• Tab Counter
• WOT

So, I am thinking to moving to something else.

Suggestions?  What web browser do you use?

The advice to make the most of your talents applies to everyone.  If anything, people who are constantly being told in school and elsewhere that they are ‘too dumb’ are MORE likely to miss their hidden talents and abilities than those who are constantly being told how special they are.  Not everybody is going to win a Nobel Prize, or quit their day job to write great novels, but almost all of us are capable of more success and happiness than we now enjoy.

[...]

Figuring out your real strengths and passions and having the courage to base career decisions on them does not just make sense for the budding Einsteins and investment bankers among us.  It is about living your best life and honoring your Creator by placing the sum of your talents, be they great or small, in the common service as best you can.

Self improvement never has been and is not now a message solely for elites.  The belief that ‘ordinary’ people can live better lives by dint of cultivating their talents and that the capacity for growth and self-direction of the ‘average’ American deserves respect is not, in my book, a mark of elitism.

Are the Chinese Sabotaging Islam?

The Chinese are masters at copycat capitalism;  give them a blueprint–or even an item they can reverse-engineer–and they’ll speedily and inexpensively start manufacturing knockoffs.  Some of us worry about quality control (understatement alert) for components of everything from computers to aircraft.  Whatif they are selling us stuff that will fail at a sensitive moment?  Or just plain fail?

It’s hard to separate national security concerns from the quality control issue, and of course “national security” is sometimes subject to surprising definition.  In Iran, for example, we find that the Chinese have penetrated the Koran market, and Chinese knockoffs cost less than Iranian-made versions.  But the cheap Chinese Korans have lots of typos…

I wonder if those “typos” are just typos, or if there is a systematic ideological campaign under way.  I mean, the Beijing regime is quite concerned about radical Muslim separatists in the West.  Why not subvert the doctrine, and make a profit at the same time?

Inquiring minds await the detailed report of the Iranian “Koran Oversight Office.”

Yes, you bet I’m serious.

Would this really be an pro-transparency and anti-fraud control? Any accountants out there? This is outside my expertise.

Short Term

- Dump SOX

- Dump Dodd-Frank

- POTUS should grant 30-year waivers for Obamacare to all businesses and organizations and instead work to implement something like this

- Lease out and/or sell idle governement assets through dutch auctions

- POTUS should sign existing but unsigned Free Trade Agreements

- Smack down the NRLB. Defund it immediately.

- Defund the Lemonade stand police. Reduce aid to municipalities who go after kids Lemonade stands by the fund equivalent to 2 Police officers, 1 police supervisors, 1 alderman, 1 mayor, and 1 city attorney. This won’t create jobs but it will send a good anti-statist message. It will also make me feel better.

- Hands-off Gibson Guitars. Reduce the budget of those parts of USGOV going against it.

- Freeze regulations. No more regulations for 48 months.

- Publish the real debt numbers

- Freeze non-defense hiring for 24 months

- Raise small claims court limits

- Cheap plentiful / multi-source energy

- Instant green cards with fast track citizenship path for STEM-related Phd for foreign students graduating from US Universities.

- “Double the exemption numbers for small businesses: that is, whatever regulations you are exempt from by dint of having 10 or fewer employees, you will now be exempt if you have 20 or fewer; similarly for larger numbers. The regulations will still apply, but the exemption numbers are doubled.” [Jerry Pournelle ?]

Long-Term

- Implement modern fraud detection technology into all Federal billing and financial systems and increase OIG Forensic Accounting capabilities

- US Trade Systems should move to Free-but-not-a-sucker Trade with Tit-fo-Tat Tariffs

- Create five regulatory rollback commissions (National Security, infrastructure, Agriculture, Human Resources, Other) to present to congress (on an up and down votes only) regulations to repeal.

- Replace “base-line” budgeting with “zero-based” budgeting.

- Require all spending to be authorized regularly by Congress.

- Switch to 2-year budgeting

-Congress should establish a special Joint Committee on USGOV size reduction

- Tort reform – Basically loser pays and caps on damages

- prize for moon base
- prize for mars base
- prize for orbital habitat X 3

- Patent Reform: no software or process patents, crowd sourcing for prior art, late career path as HR source for Patent Examiners, fully funded

- only tax corps on us income
- tax holiday for repatriation for return of overseas profits

- amnesty for tax cheaters (they pay tax +$100 processing fee and sign

- no permission needed t start a sole proprietorship

- Reduce size and scope of USGOV

- Adapt Zubrin flex-fuel mandate for vehicles

Others…

- Moratorium on (or ceiling percentage)  IVY League grads at high levels in USGOV!

- Start up Lean Six Sigma Programs throughout the Federal Government (Put Jack Welch in Charge)  [This is Newts idea from a Debate

- reverse federalization of local/state crimes
- Create EOPOTUS ombudsman to identify and begin to reverse
- All future legislation should have sunset clauses

- A sort of SUper IRA to replace pensions and Social Security

- A Flat-ish Income tax  with low-to-zero deductions and no AMT to replace the current systems

- Balanced Budge amendment

- Reform Fed to have two missions: Sound Money and  use rule based inflation targeting

- immigration reform: Secure borders, migrant guest worker program

- Dramatically Rein In The EPA

- Reform The FDA By Streamlining The Testing And Approval Process

Two Classics:

- The Art of War by Sun-Tzu

- The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli

General Purpose-ish

- The American Threat: National Security and Foreign Policy By James L Payne

- The New Face of War: How War Will Be Fought in the 21st Century by Bruce D. Berkowitz

- How Wars Are Won: The 13 Rules of War – from Ancient Greece to the War on Terror by Bevin Alexander

- Brave New War: The Next Stage of Terrorism and the End of Globalization by John Robb

- The Pentagon’s New Map Thomas P.M. Barnett

- Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century by P. W. Singer

Maneuver Warfare / 3GW

- Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (A short intro to Maneuver Warfare – aka 3GW – thinking embedded in a fun to read Science Fiction novel)

4GW

- War Nerd by Gary Brecher (This is a  book mostly about 4GW by an insightful asshole)

- The Principles of War for the Information Age by Robert Leonhard

- Utility of Force by Rupert Smith

- The Sling and the Stone by  Thomas X. Hammes

Moving toward some 5GW thinking…

- Unrestricted Warfare by Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui ( Forget the dumb criticism that this is anti-US book. This book broadens ones mind as to what conflict can be, is leads in to a key idea of 4GW and 5GW, that is the  Weaponization of things not thought to be Weapons)

- An Army of Davids by Glenn Reynolds (The emergence of Strategic Citizens)

- The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations by Brafman and Beckstrom

- Strategic Denial and Deception: The Twenty-First Century Challenge edited by Roy Godson and James Wirtz

- World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World by Christopher Andrew

- The Grand Jihad by Andrew McCarthy

Other/Related

- The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order by Samuel P. Huntington

- Dirty Tricks or Trump Cards: U.S. Covert Action and Counterintelligence by Roy Godson

- The Other Path: The Economic Answer to Terrorism by Hernando De Soto

- The Candy Bombers by Andrei Cherny

My country – The USA – is a divided nation. USGOV and large parts of the public refuse to name our enemies. The enemy hasn’t been defeated – yet. The US Economy nosedive is harming US National Security. Our future capabilities and freedom of action are being reduced. I guess I did have something to add.

I don’t think we know the River Song story yet. We are being fooled. In the first River Song Episode (supposedly the oldest version of herself), she is an Archeologist. She is cool and calm for the most part.

There is no hint that she has been imprisoned and some sort of super-criminal for a super crime.

At the end of “Let’s Go Kill Hitler”, she goes off to become an archeologist.

Later episodes, in which we assumed were all younger versions, show her more wild and being some sort of super-criminal for a super crime.

I think that her death episodes in  “Silence in the Library“/”Forest of the Dead” is not really her death.

I think the episodes showing her as a special prisoner for being super-criminal for a super crime, come later.

We have not seen the death of River Song.

We do not know how her story plays out.

Doctor Who – The writing, the acting, and the music…the current season has me hooked fully.  Matt Smith  has turned out to be the best Doctor and the story lines have matured and modernized. This was my favorite show for the past season.

Louis – A comedy/drama unlike any show. Season Two this summer has gotten better with each episode. It is an amazing show.

…and the rest in no particular order…

Archer – A LOL Spy parody/celebration/throwback. Enjoy these clips!

How I Met Your Mother – Funny Sitcom with dramatic moments. Two more season to go.

Big Bang Theory – The season started weak as Sheldon and Friends, but it ended strong as an expanded ensemble comedy.

Outsourced – A fish-out-of-water sitcom as an American is transferred to India to take over his company’s newly outsourced call center. The show was sweet and funny. PC types called it racists…which says more about them then the show. It was not renewed after its one season.

Modern Family – A sitcom that seems traditional but is executed perfectly…perfectly amusing!

Wilfred – A failed suicidal man dealing with an early mid-life crisis has a dog come into his life that he can communicate with it. Or possibly a man in a dog suit. Or possible he is insane. Hilarity and drama commence.

Community - A sitcom based around a fun ensemble cast with lots (but not too much) pop culture references and meta-humor.

Men of  Certain Age – A comedy/drama about men just past their prime. Alas, it has since been cancelled.

Terriers – Low-rent private ivestiagtors…great acting and stories. Also cancelled (after just one season).

Detroit 1-8-7 – This standard homicide detective show was elevated by superior acting, stories and the shows look and feel. Also cancelled  (after just one season).

Justified – Season 2 of this modern western improved upon its great premier season.

The Good Wife – A lawyer based drama but with excellent execution, acting and story-lines. I watched the premier by accident and have been hooked since then,

Mentalist – It seems to be a traditional detective/crime show but is enhanced by the acting/antics/PoV of the main character.

Shark Tank – An entrepreneurship reality show of sorts.

Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld – My favorite late night show…though I like The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson as well.

Tekzilla – A technology news and demo show available on the web

The following are my top podcast choice. They are not TV shows, but I am using them to substitute for radio listening and TV viewing:

The Adam Carollo Podcast – Humor from Adam’s life and PoV on things.

Buzz Out Loud – A light hearted end-of-the day technology news roundup show

Hardcore History – The top – but infrequent – history podcast

The Nerdist – Pop Culture Humor from the Nerd/Geek PoV

The US should adopt a constitutional amendment that:

1) Negates recess appointments
2) Add automatic approval of any presidential appointment after say 4 months  if the nominee has not been rejected by the Senate.  Queued up appointments expire with the end of a presidential term.

This gets rid of recess appointment gaming/trickery/abuse, and forces the Senate to act up presidential nominees. It WIN-WIN for the US.

Kotlikoff has actively proposed extremely simple reforms of the U.S. financial system, tax system, health care system, and retirement income system. His proposed reform of the financial system[6][7][8], discussed in Jimmy Stewart Is Dead, called Limited Purpose Banking, transforms all financial companies with limited liability, including incorporated banks, insurance companies, financial exchanges, and hedge funds, into pass-through mutual funds, which do not borrow to invest in risky assets, but, instead, allows the public to directly choose what risks it wishes to bear by purchasing more or less risky mutual funds. Limited Purpose Banking keeps banks, insurance companies, hedge funds and other financial corporations from borrowing short and lending long and leaving the public to pick up the pieces when things go south. Instead, it forces financial intermediaries to limit their activities to their sole legitimate purpose—financial inter-mediation. Limited Purpose Banking substitutes the vast array of extant federal and state financial regulatory bodies with a single financial regulator called the Federal Financial Authority (FFA). The FFA would have a narrow purpose namely to verify, disclosure, and oversee the independent rating and custody off all securities purchased and sold by mutual funds.

From Amazon.com:

Limited Purpose Banking puts takes the multifaceted fraud out of our financial system by turning all banks, insurance companies, hedge funds, etc. into fully transparent mutual fund companies. Limited Purpose Banking also abolishes over 115 federal and state regulatory authorities and replaces them with the Federal Financial Authority, which verifies, fully and immediately discloses, and independently rates and appraises all securities held by the mutual funds.

In a nut shell, Limited Purpose Banking makes Wall Street safe for Main Street. Under Limited Purpose Banking we will never again experience financial collapse and contagion.
[...]
Narrow Banking says that the monies invested in checking accounts and similar short-term deposits must be invested in very safe securities, like federal government Treasury bills. It lets the rest of the financial system do its own thing and tells that part of the system – “Boys and girls, you’re on your own.” If you borrow money to invest in fraudulent or simply risky securities and lose your shirts, we’re not going to bail you out. Well, this was tried in the case of Lehman’s failure and it blew up in the government’s face.

Limited Purpose Banking includes cash mutual funds, which are held strictly in cash. So one element of LPB is narrow banking. But LPB is much broader. It precludes any financial intermediary of any kind, which is protected by limited liability, from doing anything but marketing mutual funds and the mutual funds are themselves never leveraged. So the entire financial piping system is made safe, not just a few pipes that weren’t at much risk to begin with.
[...]
The biggest difference between what we now have and Limited Purpose Banking is we’ll have a financial system that’s honest and that we can trust. This will make all the difference in the world in getting the American economy back on its feet.

Time to order the book.

Ryan is just a pretty boy from a rich family. He has only ever been a politician. He has never run anything. He was (and maybe still is) a BigGov/BigBiz GOPer. Only recently has he been presenting as a fiscal conservative.

I don’t trust him. I do not understand why conservatives trust him. The media likes him because he is telegenic.

I have no reason to think he would be a successful POTUS. If he ran for Gov or Senate I would have voted against him for anybody else.

Ref:
[1]

https://purpleslog.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/on-the-bailout-part-15-wisconsin-congressman-ryan-vote-for-bailout-went-against-his-principles/

[2]

https://purpleslog.wordpress.com/2008/10/31/us-rep-paul-ryan-fake-conservative/

[3]

https://purpleslog.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/fakery-sen-russ-feingold-and-rep-paul-ryan-officially-unveiled-their-proposal-for-a-line-item-veto/

[4]

https://purpleslog.wordpress.com/2011/06/15/another-reason-i-dont-like-rep-paul-ryan/

Its crap.

Just off-hand, here are some big idea innovations that are and will change the world:

The Evolution Machine [ref] == Radical Health and Biological Science driven advances

It is a strange combination of clumsiness and beauty. Sitting on a cheap-looking worktop is a motley ensemble of flasks, trays and tubes squeezed onto a home-made frame. Arrays of empty pipette tips wait expectantly. Bunches of black and grey wires adorn its corners. On the top, robotic arms slide purposefully back and forth along metal tracks, dropping liquids from one compartment to another in an intricately choreographed dance. Inside, bacteria are shunted through slim plastic tubes, and alternately coddled, chilled and electrocuted. The whole assembly is about a metre and a half across, and controlled by an ordinary computer.

Say hello to the evolution machine. It can achieve in days what takes genetic engineers years. So far it is just a prototype, but if its proponents are to be believed, future versions could revolutionise biology, allowing us to evolve new organisms or rewrite whole genomes with ease. It might even transform humanity itself.

Thorium Powered  Vehicles [ref]  == Replacement of Fossil Fuels for mobile vehicles

“Thorium, an abundant and radioactive rare earth mineral, could be used in conjunction with a laser and mini turbines to easily produce enough electricity to power a vehicle. When thorium is heated, it generates further heat surges, allowing it to be coupled with mini turbines to produce steam that can then be used to generate electricity. Combining a laser, radioactive material, and mini-turbines might sound like a complicated alternative solution to filling your gas tank, but there’s one feature that sells it as a great alternative solution: 1 gram of thorium produces the equivalent energy of 7,500 gallons of gasoline.”

The Space Shaft [ref] == Cheap Orbital Lift Capacity

A private European organization has a proposal for creating 100-300 kilometer high multipurpose towers. The towers would be composed of moveable lighter-than-air rings stacked upon each other. Modules would be added from the bottom up and filled with a light gas. Shuttles within the shaft could take people and payloads to the top, slowly but inexpensively. In an interview with Sander Olson, Patrick Vankeirsbilk describes how the first towers could become operational within a decade, and could be used both for tourism and for getting payloads inexpensively into space.

Universal Anti-Viral[ref] == Better health and Quality of Life for all

Too good to be true? You might think this is impossible.

“Now, in a development that could transform how viral infections are treated, a team of researchers at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory has designed a drug that can identify cells that have been infected by any type of virus, then kill those cells to terminate the infection.”

It works against 15 viruses tested so far.

Cure for Cancer via Applied Genetic Engineering [ref] == Increased Human Longevity and Quality of Life

Cancer Cured By Injecting White Blood Cells that had been genetically altered by a modified/harmless version of HIV

Applying Economic Thinking and Quantitative thinking to Everything!

3D Printing [ref] Manufacturing only limited by our imaginations

Think: 3D Printing + Semi-autonomous Robots + Interplanetary Internet + Cheap Space Launch/Lift Costs + off-planet atomic power

Abundant and Cheap Energy for all should be our goal [ref]

I want to drive an affordable electric or gas/electric or some sort of flex-fuel vehicle as a mobility device. I want to take a train once a month to Madison or the Fox River Valley. I want to see a new nationwide network of smart electrical grids powered by small scale nuclear plants, municipal plasma furnaces, wind and solar (where the make sense) or whatever else entrepreneurs can dream up and successively execute. I long for the day of orbital solar power.

I love the idea of (and the change it will make) of Russia and Saudi Arabia and the others of their ilk being deprived of their ability to make mischief  and misery for the rest of the world. I welcome their fall. This will be a good thing for the world.

Micro Robots For Health Care [ref] == Loner and Healthier Lives

They look like spirals with tiny heads, and screw through the liquid like miniature corkscrews. When moving, they resemble rather ungainly bacteria with long whip-like tails. They can only be observed under a microscope because, at a total length of 25 to 60 µm, they are almost as small as natural flagellated bacteria. Most are between 5 and 15 µm long, a few are more than 20 µm.[...]

What are your ideas?

- is of good moral character
- has executive experience
- has an adult lifetime that includes significant time outside of DC
- embraces the principles of the US constitution
- is a fiscal conservative and will focus on the fiscal/financial as US President
- supports a balanced budget amendment
- is pro-entrepreneur
- has a plan on how to roll back job killing/anti-entrepreneurial regulations
- is not a Keynesian of any flavor
- wants the Fed to focus on anti-inflation measures to protect the currency
- is pro-federalism
- has a preference for individuals and markets over central planning
- ruthlessly against corruption/cronyism/ethic-less-ness in gov and has a record to back that up
- is a social moderate or has libertarian social leanings
- does not engage in overt gratuitous religious displays and pandering
- will not continue to abandon our international allies
- doesn’t feel a need or desire to apologize or be ashamed of America for  being America
- does not wish for a US that is more like China, nor  embraces a USA future where we are China’s little subservient buddy
- is not soft on, nor an apologist of Islamism
- will not accept a weaker or backwards-looking us national security capability
- is not a “slave” to biggov/bigbiz interests
- is not “climate change” or “global warming” zealot
- is for more energy from more sources, not less,  especially including nuclear power
- is willing to push tax system reform to make it flat, transparent and cheaper (e.g. fair tax, Forbes flat tax, purple tax reform)
- is willing to address retirement and de-coupling of pensions from employer (e.g. a super IRA or PRA)
- is willing to push replacement of Obamacare with something like this and addresses at least Paul Ryan’s plan
- wants a smaller federal government and can name some specifics cuts
- names 2 cabinet departments or major agencies targeted for elimination
- if there were in the US congress, they did NOT vote/support tarp, the faux-stimulus, and the various bailouts (or they better have  a good reason for me to over look this)
- has a plan for the US  in space
- wants to address border security and immigration…and doesn’t call others who want to racists
-has not graduated from an ivy league university (or at least seems free of that taint)

Lastly: I want somebody who when they read this post and the post at this link won’t consider me to be a fucking hobbit/terrorist/racist.

So.

Who is this person?

Covert influence, influence that is not openly acknowledged or displayed, oftentimes occurs when those being influenced are actually unaware of their activities. Covert influence operations are time consuming—not hours, days, or weeks but months and often years. One of the many tactics behind covert influence stems in social conditioning. Persons actually unknowingly change their cognitive processing in believing the way their influencers desire.

Initiators in this covert espionage concept are rarely known. They are Mavens. To understand one of the processes which covert influence begins, think of Malcolm Gladwell’s book Tipping Point where he discusses Mavens, Connectors, and Salespersons.

Mavens are the brains with ideas to be executed. Mavens can be nation states. They can also be leaders of groups like terrorist organizations. Sometimes they are not leaders rather serve their masters as the brains behind the scenes. While Mavens are rarely known, they spread their ideas and memes to a few powerful persons known as Connectors.

Connectors, often construed as assets, have large networks of individuals who pitch these ideas and or memes onto the public. The Connectors are influential and tactically powerful. They have capabilities to persuade others. The others are their Salespersons.

Salespersons are normally everyday persons.  They have access to local level individuals and capabilities to spread the social meme onto others with relative ease. In the intelligence world, Salespersons are often referred to as sources.

I have a 5GW summary page here.

I don’t want a big action adventure episode though. I want talking and story.

Make it be a TARDIS only episode. The Doctor is alone on the TARDIS for some reason. The TARDIS is dying (maybe). The Doctor is dying (maybe). He is alone…except for the voices and images of his past selves who proceeds to argue and discuss his predicament, his failings, and his companions. Maybe flash back to his youth, and his initial escape from Galifrey with Susan. I am thinking to a bit of Magnum PI episode that was done with the lead character trapped in the ocean with just his own thoughts and stuff for survival. The older doctor/actors can rely mostly on their voices, personality and expressions (use makeup and shadows).