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Showing posts with the label Rant

Billionaires and the Contemporary Gilded Age

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  It is becoming clear to me that billionaires should not exist.  Maybe I could abide a person with one billion dollars, but a multi-billionaire should not be a thing.  Populist lore says that they deserve it for being smarter than other people or harder working (at least those who didn't inherit their wealth).  I never fully subscribed to that belief, though I did not used to begrudge billionaires their billions.  That is changing as more and more of them succumb to greed.  This blog post is my attempt to organize my thoughts and examine the ramifications of this shift and what to do about it.     To begin, I want to state that I don't believe billionaires are problematic just because they have a billion (or several hundred billion) dollar net worth.  Some billionaires do lots of good in the world with their money.  Some are corrupted by their money and do lots of evil in the world.  Most find themselves somewhere in between t...
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Hodgepodge of Stuff

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  It's been a bit since I updated this blog.  Looking back at the past few years, my blogging activity seems to pick up in October and fall off as Spring arrives.  It has happened often enough that I can call it a pattern.  I guess that makes sense, as I spend a lot more time doing things outside when it isn't cold, snowy and dark.  As the days grow shorter, I have more time to think rather than do, so I turn to this blog for an outlet for all that thinking.  Many of my thoughts over the summer that are now ping-ponging around in my head are not defined enough or worthy enough to warrant a full blog entry about them, so I present them to you here as some wisdumb bites. Healthcare As you know, nothing gets me riled up faster than believing I'm being ripped off.  Therefore, I find it impossible to abide our healthcare system.  The for-profit nature of it is absolutely insane.  The billing, and the huge number of people required to administer it...
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What's Wrong with Software Developers? [Yahoo Edition]

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  It's been a while since I've had a good rant.  At least publicly.  Much like a volcano that slowly builds up pressure over time until there is a massive explosion, I have been absorbing the stupidity, faults, flaws and outright incompetence of the various products I interact with daily, and now it is time for me to erupt.  If you recall, Spotify was the target of my last good rant about software development .  Today's rant is brought to you by Yahoo! I have been using Yahoo! since the very early days of the World Wide Web.  I remember when it was hosted at akebono.stanford.edu/yahoo.  It was an innovative idea, and I immediately set it as my homepage in my NCSA Mosaic browser.  At the time, there were no other web-based aggregators of content (at least that I knew of) and Yahoo! provided a great starting point for finding content I was interested in (kids- this was before Google even existed).  For a fun trip down memory lane, take a look a...
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Car Shopping in 2023

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It's new car buying time in the Wisdumb household.  Well, not "new" new (you've read my financial advice on cars , right?).  And not exactly "buying time".  Rather, it is time for the prep work to figure out what steed to add to our stable when the first Wisdumb young'n reaches driving age next year.  Boy am glad I'm starting early; finding the right car seems more difficult now than it has ever been.  This post is going to explore why I'm having such a hard time finding the perfect car. Is it me? You have likely figured out by now that I am very particular about product features, and my desires often run counter to the mainstream.  I blame the mainstream for that, not me!  Things I want in no particular order: Good Highway Gas Mileage Reliability Good towing capacity (3500lb min, 5000lb preferred) Minimum 35 cu ft usable cargo capacity with 4 passengers.  >40 preferred. Wireless Android Auto Heated and Ventilated Seats Adaptive Cruise Control...
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A Call to End Discrimination

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  You are probably wondering what I, a white dude living in America, know about discrimination.  Sadly, I know more than I wish I did.  You see, I was born with a particular trait that was destined to make my life in our society more difficult.  I have never tried to hide it and I'm not ashamed of it.  I'm proud of it in many respects, and many people around me already know this, but never, until now, have I publicly announced it.  So, here goes:  I am left-handed. Obviously, the previous paragraph was tongue-in-cheek, and I in no way intend to marginalize the struggles of anyone facing discrimination for factors beyond their control.  Rather, it is the opposite.  I like to use humor to ease the tension serious topics.  This blog post is an attempt at empathy and solidarity on my part.  I'll let the reader draw the parallels between my seemingly minor inconveniences with being left-handed and their own experience with discrimination...
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Dolphin S200 Pool Cleaning Robot Drive Motor Repair

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 I've spent the past two weeks doing battle with my pool cleaning robot and want to share what I've learned so others can fix their own if they run into the same problem. My robot is a Maytronics Dolphin S200.  The internals are probably very similar or identical to other models, and I think there are even rebranded versions, so the details below likely apply to a fair amount of the population.  These robots are pretty expensive to buy, but they are, in my opinion, the best way to clean my pool.  My pool is surrounded by pine trees and they are always dropping stuff in the water, so I keep my robot in the pool and it runs daily on its timer with little intervention from me and uses much, much less electricity than my previous pressure-side pool cleaner. Rant on Robot Manufacturer Greed There is a lot of markup on these robots.  The S200 I got for $600 in 2017 (and its equivalents) now sell for more than $1000.  The exact same design.  No new technology...
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A Call to End Discrimination

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  You are probably wondering what I, a white dude living in America, know about discrimination.  Sadly, I know more than I wish I did.  You see, I was born with a particular trait that was destined to make my life in our society more difficult.  I have never tried to hide it and I'm not ashamed of it.  I'm proud of it in many respects, and many people around me already know this, but never, until now, have I publicly announced it.  So, here goes:  I am left-handed. Obviously, the previous paragraph was tongue-in-cheek, and I in no way intend to marginalize the struggles of anyone facing discrimination for factors beyond their control.  Rather, it is the opposite.  I like to use humor to ease the tension serious topics.  This blog post is an attempt at empathy and solidarity on my part.  I'll let the reader draw the parallels between my seemingly minor inconveniences with being left-handed and their own experience with discrimination...
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What does a post-growth society look like?

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  A recent article in The Morning newsletter from the New York Times rekindled a smoldering ember of thought that resides in a corner of my mind.  It has never burned hot enough to inspire me to serious study on the subject, but this time it has at least motivated me enough to write about it.  The topic is growth; how our society and economy are dependent on it, why I think that is problematic, and how it can change.  My thoughts on this subject are not well formed at this time and, unusually for Wisdumb, I offer no answers, only more questions. The Times article covered the aging population of Japan and showed the chart below projecting other major economies and the world as a whole being on the brink of a rapidly aging populous. The article primarily focused on the social impacts of this aging population, in particular that Japan is running out of workers.  It posits the only solution is to bring in more immigrants.  This is what bothers me and stokes tha...
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