Leibniz Clockwork

I’m almost done with the next round of edits. The book should be republished soon in ebook and paperback formats. This year has has just conspired with fate and chance against getting anything done.

Or what about Melkor himself?

Krat is one of the great barriers to goblin economics. Because everyone feels like its their right to get their own way, there are few guide rules that withstand personal feelings of indignation.

The plants are doing well. Not the garlic, but everything else.

The Democrats on the US House Transportation Committee released their final report on the debacle around the 737 crashes, the certification process that lead up to it, and Boeing’s actions before and during the crashes.

And also in cautiously optimistic news, Nissan’s test is looking good. If the price is right, the power and dynamics decent, and othe such factors are good, the design won’t be a problem.

They should give the grill some slight angles, just so it has features. This is not a dealbreaker.

Doing a 1% solution is better than not doing a 100% solution.

I cannot grow garlic to save my life.

A few things reminded me of something I’ve been turning over in my head for a long time.

If you ever feel powerless, remember you have immense power over other people. A kind word or a nasty one can make or break someone’s day. Anxiety, depression, and a host of mental problems have been strongly correlated with feelings of powerlessness. A good way to fight them is make a point of complimenting someone else because it really gives you a feeling of empowerment to make a stranger smile. There’s nothing wrong in making yourself feel better by helping someone else out, and if you need a short boost just to get through a tough time, throwing out a little kindness works for you too.

I believe we’re programmed to operate that way. It’s better for humanity, it’s better for other people, and it’s better for you. So don’t replace your medical care with kindness, but by all means set yourself up for success. Tilt the odds in your favor. Things will tilt them against you. There are reasonable limits, of course, but if you start looking for ways to make someone else’s life a bit easier, you will realize just how incredibly, effortlessly powerful you are.

A lot of life is making cost/benefit analysis, and a thumbs up costs nothing. Take the easy wins. Know that you made someone else smile. It helps you too.

I don’t think trying to make yourself happier makes you happy. I do think making other people happier does.

Four big foreign policy events happened recently.

1) Serbia and Kosovo signed an economic normalization agreement.

2) The Taliban and Afghan governments started peace talks.

3) Israel and the UAE normalized ties.

4) Bahrain and Israel normalized ties.

There was definitely some White House electioneering going on, but this is politics. To think there isn’t, or to discard meaningful accomplishments because of electioneering, is naive.

In all of these actions, the participants will drive meaning or its absence. Details, treaty obligations, and suchlike can be changed and implemented or not at the discretion of those participants. Even if a paper says ‘A will do this’ there’s not much obligation for A to do this. People can try to write more things on the paper to make it certain, but it’s still just a paper.

On the other hand, this is the human race. Take the wins you can get. If you want people to stop smoking and you get ten people to sign pieces of paper that say they’re going to stop smoking, you take the one or two or might stick through it. At the very least, most of the other eight or nine might stop for a while, and that’s a short win too.

Either Trump or Biden administrations, as well as following administrations, will have to push things, keep up pressure, and yet not overdo the pressure so participants don’t defy the treaties and agreements to thumb their noses at the US.

Where I’m going is, these are accomplishments, but they just open the door to more work. We need to set our expectations to one or two becoming meaningful after a lot of work and a long time. But if one or two turn into something meaningful, that’s more than zero. Consider it cautious, low expectation optimism.