Blog
5/25/23 #covid recent #history and bad consequences.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9062939
2/11/22 #money #economics #policy
#inflation is rising, Fed monetary action is needed. A roundtable led by Prof. John Taylor, long but many great details. #economy #money #rates
Also this interview with Prof. Taylor from Econtalk, with Russ Roberts:
https://www.econtalk.org/john-taylor-on-inflation-the-fed-and-the-taylor-rule/
An online Taylor Rule Utility:
https://www.atlantafed.org/cqer/research/taylor-rule
As long as we have debt-based money, I believe some kind of Taylor Rule would help us keep monetary stability, avoiding too much inflation and recession/depression. Debt based money is not easy to eliminate, partly due to free markets and Gresham's Law. More on this later. A process for using such a rule might look something like this:
1) rule is approved by both Fed and Senate;
2) rule is posted on a public website, for use in cost and related calculations;
3) revisions to the rule go through the process above.
11/25/21 #money #economics #history
Prof. Milton #Friedman explains basic monetary policy. This video also shows how a real expert does not talk down to students but unpacks #tech info in clear language as much as time permits. #education #philosophy
Wait for it! Friedman's analogy with radio static at the end leads to an information-theoretic understanding of the phenomenology of #money, with high s/n (signal to noise ratio), low static, high stability, clear #pricing as semiotic signals of value. #math #philosophy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xilb3ZsOMs
Prof. John Taylor describes the Taylor Rules, which seem to be the best recent implementations of Friedman's ideas promoting monetary stability.
https://economicsone.com/2019/11/27/a-fast-and-fun-way-to-learn-about-rules-versus-discretion
7/28/21 #health #safety #statistics From the article: "At some point, when the potential for conflicts of interest are high and the point of failure is fundamental to the task of those doing the job, incompetence should no longer be differentiated from criminal intent."
https://roundingtheearth.substack.com/p/defining-away-vaccine-safety-signals
Notes on informed consent and related issues.
Informed Consent is generally required in the US before any medical treatment. These articles also suggest that: quarantine may be enforced for severe communicable diseases but does not in general negate requirements for informed consent; advance directives may be helpful for ensuring that patients receive all and only the desired treatment.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3307558
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000445.htm
https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/final-rule-communicable-diseases.html
www.ncsl.org/research/health/state-quarantine-and-isolation-statutes.aspx
Another summary of recent issues.
https://www.lifenews.com/2021/07/27/whistleblowers-experts-warn-of-increased-risks-of-infertility-death-after-covid-vaccines
6/20/21 Good ideas on monetary policy, from Prof. John Taylor. His rules bring a more reliable and predictable approach to regulating the #money supply, IMO.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LjQbpIoLp8
5/10/21 #covid
Much of modern so-called #science seems to depend on who pays whom.
Therapeutic effects of nebulization.
4/28/21 #proLife Stop #tax dollars from paying for #abortion. Your senators and representatives need to hear from you directly!
http://www.votervoice.net/Shares/B8ckqA2kACzcUACgOGY7FAA
3/24/21 #health #naturalHealing 'Why I didn't die in bio lab.'
1/24/21 #covid #health Great Barrington Declaration.
A large group of infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists has grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of prevailing COVID-19 policies. They recommend an approach called Focused Protection. 'Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal. Simple hygiene measures, such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practiced by everyone.'
1/14/21 Economic freedom remains important and socially profitable.
Milton Friedman on Competition
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GyAtTPfuT8
Friedman on Monopolies. At that time he did not have international free trade with communists and others who unfairly subsidize their own businesses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdLBzfFGFQU
11/27/20 Texas rejects Dominion Voting Systems software. Related notes on #voting #software.
The Texas examiners found it overly complex and error-prone. "If certification should be granted, it should be with the condition that all open network and USB ports be sealed."
https://www.sos.texas.gov/elections/forms/sysexam/oct2019-sneeringer.pdf
Texas has actually rejected it three times.
https://thetexan.news/texas-rejected-use-of-dominion-voting-system-software-due-to-efficiency-issues
Dominion denies most charges, but confirms its giving to a Clinton Foundation. No links to their 400+ page manual appears on their site, and no opensource source code appears to be available for any of their products.
https://www.dominionvoting.com
Dominion is privately held and does not disclose its financial statements. So it is not traded on any public exchange. No source code and no financials means no transparency, IMO.
One Dominion founder's background is primarily in Canada.
He testified to the US House of Representatives in 2020, mentions software source code issues, gives no evidence of disclosure.
https://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA00/20200109/110346/HHRG-116-HA00-Wstate-PoulosJ-20200109-U1.pdf
Patents for Dominion's techniques confirm that they have no intention of revealing all of their algorithms and source code, IMO.
https://patents.justia.com/assignee/dominion-voting-systems-inc
Complexity and lack of transparency is evident in this patent, IMO.
https://uspto.report/patent/app/20200027296
Dominion ownership and control. Note that "Dominion holds or licenses all IP in this voting system" which appears to exclude opensource software code.
https://votingsystems.cdn.sos.ca.gov/dominion-voting/part-2.pdf
Dominion has a history of errors favoring the left.
Obama connections in Dominion's owners are noted here. This article also notes the lack of transparency in most privately-held companies.
https://marketrealist.com/p/who-owns-dominion-voting-systems
Illinois admits that without software disclosures, voting machine software can behave like a 'black box,' that is, verification requires an expensive and lengthy manual audit of paper ballots. This article goes on the describe possible vulnerabilities and conflicts of interest.
10/11/20 Capitalism versus Marxism.
#Marxism is a philosophical scam and a financial racket. The world is not driven by #envy. No #government is competent to control all the means of production. Moderate realist ideas about #capitalism here:
https://sites.google.com/view/ari3/home/capital2010
7/12/20 A tale of two viruses.
Two notorious viruses have approximately the same diameter, 126.5 nm Range ±16.4 nm.
https://bionumbers.hms.harvard.edu/bionumber.aspx?s=n&v=10&id=101667
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4924471
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41423-020-0407-x
Are authorities seriously telling us that only one can spread through aerosols and requires a mask? These articles are fairly long and technical, but contain much helpful information.
6/11/20 #covid and #proLife items of interest.
#covid
Positive effects of Vitamin D.
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/4/988
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32451597
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32397511
Vitamin D deficiency can be a result of skin pigmentation and diet.
https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1548/rr-22
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.01.20087965v2.full.pdf
Vaccines: #proLife ethical alternatives to using cell lines from aborted babies are available.
5/24/20 #covid19 death tolls. No deaths are good. But the #MSM never shows the true percentages shown in this great chart. More evidence that Trump Admin policies, including subsidiarity and federalism, are working. States are the primary decision makers, with the Federal gov serving as a resource for the states.
5/20/20 #covid19 recent issues.
#tax #IRS
https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/employee-retention-credit-available-for-businesses-affected-by-covid-19
https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/economic-impact-payment-information-center
#CMS #Medicare #nursingHomes #KAG
#covid #science #health
Worldwide reproducibility is an important goal. Note that 'even a vaccine developed at record-breaking speed is likely to be a slower solution than repurposing an approved drug.'
5/13/20 #China recent issues and activities. The Chinese Communist Party #CCP is clearly the perpetrator, not the Chinese people.
China Hacking.
Security thoughts from MITRE.
https://www.mitre.org/news/focal-points/great-power-competition
China is arrogant with its neighbors. Energy stores there are also in dispute.
https://focustaiwan.tw/politics/202005120021
Even CFR, not known for rigorous anti-communism, has helpful summaries of the issues.
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinese-communist-party
5/5/20 #covid #health Possible therapies may include vitamins and older drugs, as well as new ones.
4/26/20 #COVID #coronavirus: recent research.
WHO makes claims on covid reinfection: cytokines plus other antibodies may be needed effectively to fight the virus.
https://www.newsmax.com/health/health-news/covid19-coronavirus-who/2020/04/25/id/964650
In general, 'cellular immunity' in the article above includes the body's production of phagocytes, lymphocytes and cytokines. This is shown by a quick internet search. So WHO is saying that cytokines may be needed to fight COVID, but the viral pneumonia part of COVID often kills by creating a cytokine storm, as noted in these papers:
https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200417/cytokine-storms-may-be-fueling-some-covid-deaths
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32283152
This MIT lab tries to create 'cytokine sponges.'
http://news.mit.edu/2020/proteins-cytokine-storms-covid-19-0416
Note the (mainland) Chinese funding for the MIT study, and their quick efforts to get a patent.
Here is a quick summary:
WHO: the only immunities that consistently work against COVID include cytokines.
NLM: cytokine storms kill patients.
MIT: let's create cytokines and control their amount.
One can imagine a scenario much like diabetes one or kidney dialysis, where a COVID patient is forever dependent on drug treatment to keep the infection under control.
To prevent conflicts of interest and minimize the use of #bioweapons, it would be a good idea for the US to stop any mainland China (CCP) efforts to get US patents for anything.
4/11/20 Helpful economic thoughts from Milton Friedman.
#economics Adam Smith's 'Invisible Hand' at work. Modern logic (General Equilibrium Theorem of Arrow and Debreu) shows that market clearing is normal; adverse selection (Stiglitz) can destroy market equilibrium if not opposed morally and politically. #math #logic #Friedman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5Gppi-O3a8
Friedman discussing Leonard Read's 'I Pencil' essay.
3/14/20 Coronavirus (CV) helpful sites and info.
2/22/20 Some working notes about economics, politics and envy.
https://sites.google.com/view/ari3/home/econ2002
10/28/19 Hayek's Road to Serfdom: new versions.
8/28/19 Notes on economics and money by Prof. Hans F. Sennholz. Also a link on the recent role of Taylor Rules.
Recent Monetary History: summary and conclusions by Prof. Sennholz. Keynesian fiscal policies are hampered by ignoring monetary policy effects, and by the usual time lag between implementation of policy and its effects. ‘Engineering blueprints’ for monetary policies are not possible. Milton Friedman’s monetarism insists that a free market for gold and metals is better than monetizing them with concomitant price supports. Logical positivism was a big influence on Prof. Friedman. In contrast, the Austrian school deprecates statistical research and predictions based on it. Austrian criticism of Prof. Friedman’s monetarism is presented, with good historical examples for both positions. All agree that FDR’s New Deal was a disaster. Prof. Friedman believed that fiat money would coexist with good value in gold/metals, as people would freely trade as much of the latter as made sense to them. (published in 1971, noted online 8/2019)
https://oll.libertyfund.org/pages/sennholz-the-chicago-monetary-tradition
Free trade vs fair trade: a robust free-market Austrian view outlined here does not take account of recent unfairness generated by international trade with socialist/communist governments and others which artificially subsidize their producers. On a more positive note, education must have a payoff and be focused on improving productivity. Redistribution programs enforced by governmental power can degenerate into nothing more than systematic programs of economic vengeance. Social peace and harmony do not come from money but from good broad social morality. Economic freedom dissipates pessimism. (noted online 8/19)
https://fee.org/articles/a-sennholz-sampler
Prof. Sennholz' background:
https://www.garynorth.com/public/19683.c
Best recent approach to a debt-based monetary system that I can find in 2019. Taylor Rules combine Friedman's wish for automation of money growth with Austrian-style reference to real economic conditions.
7/27/19 Math, biochemistry and philosophy may converge to militate against Darwinism. Genes considered as an information stream may have too small an s/n (signal to noise ratio). These thinkers also challenge all types of materialism. I think similar arguments destroy social darwinism as well. Religious aspects of the darwinist worldview are discussed. I would also add that genes constrain but do not determine us. Racial, genetic and other kinds of determinism should be avoided.
6/20/19 Ancient ideas for management and goal setting.
6/11/19 Short intro to Economics with some philosophical foundations. It also helps to recall that scarcity is not going away anytime soon, and that the 'free' pizza was subsidized by someone for a reason!
5/29/19 Practical advice to counter online scams.
5/6/19 No socialism on the bayou! We need cooperation, not conquest!
5/6/19 Europe's history in a quick summary animation. Too much conquest, not enough cooperation.
4/20/19 Happy Easter 2019! Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov uses Russian energy and powerful orchestration to describe the Easter Festival.
Beautifully played by talented Carnegie-Mellon students with an excellent conductor whom they clearly respect.
The Party theme begins at about 1.36, recapitulated at 4.19 and 9.00. The sin or Penance theme is clear at 3.15, recapitulated in the brass at 7.45.
Hegelians may say that the whole piece represents a dialectical struggle between Party and Penance. A Utopia of parties awaits if we can only get rid of those melancholy guilt-ridden brass, or at least suppress them.
As a Thomistic/Aristotelian Catholic Christian, I see Party and Penance as both equally present and equally real throughout the entire piece. The structure is more cellular, like Bruckner or Sibelius, than dialectical (Wagner). Moderate Party dominates throughout and especially at the end, and I think the audience agrees! Redemption gives us resilience so we can persevere in doing good work.
4/16/19 Milton Friedman instructs Bernie Sanders in these great composite videos.
3/29/19 Medical software issues.
#health #medicine #software
Software issues are rampant in medicine and health care. A patchwork of databases lacks interoperability, portability and standards. GUIs and repulsive ergonomics create user burnout. Socialists will cry for more regulatory bureaucracies, but good standards have always been profitable for business.
fortune.com/longform/medical-records
In the US government, NIST and the Dept. of Commerce have long been active in organizing standards activities. We should use their capabilities and the voluntary buy-in of health care practitioners and software makers.
3/23/19 Software testing troubles.
Correlation does not imply causation. Statistical significance can be helpful but also misleading.
Rejection of statistical significance tends to support proofs by construction, as made popular in geometry long ago by Euclid. One of the best modern constructive proofs may be a computer program with well determined inputs and outputs.
View such a program as a morphism M in the category of sets or the category of finite lists. If the initial and terminal objects of M are not well-defined, as in some neural nets and other ‘non-deterministic’ systems, no general constructive proof is possible. In these cases, failure of statistical significance renders M untestable and unprovable.
3/23/19 Marijuana's risks probably outweigh any benefits. Recent addictive drug studies continue to show adverse effects.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4827335
3/27/19 Marijuana in Colorado is linked to more ER visits. I think we should call it what it is: pot.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/45099/weed-harmless-legalized-cannabis-linked-more-er-paul-bois
Link above is stale in 10/20. Here are better ones:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6625695
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/25/health/edible-cannabis-emergency-visit-study/index.html
Economics, finance notes, early 2019.
