dispatches from TJICistan

Might as well get a bunch of blogging out of the way before tomorrow.

Crazy guy has converted not one, but two DeLoreans into ‘time machines’. Pictures, forums, comments, parts for sale.

More “living like a Third Worlder makes me feel virtuous” stupidity: you can cook pasta poorly by substituting a dollar of labor for 1/10th of a cent of water. Great!

Some red state governors are talking about turning down stimulus funds. Grand standing politics for the base? Certainly. But there’s more to it than that – the stimulus funds require changes to state laws – extended unemployment, removing qualifications, etc. So, it is at least partially a consistent principled stand. The NYT’s take “

What Part of ‘Stimulus’ Don’t They Get? . Was it Paul Graham, or perhaps one of the guys at Overcoming Bias who made the point that the phrase “you don’t get it” is not a rational argument – it is an place-filler explicitly used when there is no rational argument to be made. “You’re not one of the anointed right-thinking ones”.

Even the NYT can’t resist pointing out that Obama butchers the English language: ‘I’ is not a direct object. Of course, if he was a Republican, he’d be an ignorant hick, but because he’s a blue-stater, he’s actually reminding us of how English was correctly spoken 200 years ago, before the idiotic formalists – who were probably the forerunners of evil Wall Street Bankers who don’t know what ‘keeping it real’ is, and who wouldn’t appreciate performance art celebrating HIV infected transsexual poets – mangled the language to make it icy and precise and totally uncool. Anyway, let’s keep my opinion on this matter between you and I.

A new variety of fluidic logic.

Stupid, left-wing, cowardly ball-less advice from the stupid , left-wing, cowardly ball-less folks at Salon. An individual is thinking about joining the military. The advice:

http://www.salon.com/mwt/col/tenn/2009/0…

So it is understandable that you are considering alternatives. But this is not such a good time to join the military. For one thing, there are wars going on. Many men and women are dying in these wars. Many are being maimed. It’s terrible. Not only that, but our country needs many things right now. More than soldiers, it needs noble leadership, a whole generation of leaders, intelligent, courageous, well-educated leaders such as yourself. If you continue on your current path, and take steps to earn money as you continue your education, I think you may do far more service to your country by following your dream.

Some would say that when your country is fighting overseas to push back aggressors, drain swamps, and bring freedom and democracy to oppressed people – and, yes, troops are dying – is exactly when it’s the best time to join the military.

I am reminded of the quote from John Stuart Mill:

“War, in a good cause, is not the greatest evil which a nation can suffer. War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing is worth a war, is worse. When a people are used as mere human instruments for firing cannon or thrusting bayonets, in the service and for the selfish purposes of a master, such war degrades a people. A war to protect other human beings against tyrannical injustice – a war to give victory to their own ideas of right and good, and which is their own war, carried on for an honest purpose by their free choice – is often the means of their regeneration. A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. As long as justice and injustice have not terminated their ever-renewing fight for ascendancy in the affairs of mankind, human beings must be willing, when need is, to do battle for the one against the other.”

It’s sad that Cary Tennis is a coward. It’s even sadder that, perhaps because of his associates, his job, and so on that he may not have any real standard of masculinity to measure himself against – I strongly get the feeling that he doesn’t have the least inkling of how pathetic and cowardly he is.

The WSJ has an interesting article:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB12349800…

Thinking about starting a business? Make sure you’re cut out for it first.

…

1. Are you willing and able to bear great financial risk?

Roughly half of all start-ups close within five years, so you must be realistic about the financial risks that come with owning a business – and realize that you could very well lose a sizable chunk of your net worth.

…

2. Are you willing to sacrifice your lifestyle for potentially many years?

If you’re used to steady paychecks, four weeks’ paid vacation and employer-sponsored health benefits, you might be in for an unpleasant surprise.

Creating a successful start-up often entails putting in workweeks of 60 hours or more and funneling any revenue you can spare back into the business. Entrepreneurs frequently won’t pay themselves a livable salary in the early years and will forgo real vacations until their business is financially sound. That can often take eight years or longer

…

4. Do you like all aspects of running a business?

You better. In the early stages of a business, founders are often expected to handle everything from billing customers to hiring employees to writing marketing materials. Some new entrepreneurs become annoyed that they’re spending the majority of their time on administration when they’d rather be focused on the part of the job they enjoy…

5. Are you comfortable making decisions on the fly with no playbook?

With a new business, you’re calling all the shots — and there are a lot of decisions to be made without any guidance.

…

6. What’s your track record of executing your ideas?

One of the biggest differences between successful entrepreneurs and everyone else is their ability to implement their ideas, says Prof. Bygrave of Babson College. You might have a wonderful concept, but that doesn’t mean you possess that special mix of drive, persuasiveness, leadership skills and keen intuition to actually turn the idea into a lucrative business.

…

7. How persuasive and well-spoken are you?

…

8. Do you have a concept you’re passionate about?

Every morning you want to jump out of bed eager to get to work. If you’re not that exuberant about how you’ll be spending your time — or the business concept itself — running a business is going to be a rough ride.

…

9. Are you a self-starter?

Entrepreneurs face lots of discouragement. Potential buyers don’t return calls, business sours or you face repeated rejection. It takes willpower and an almost unwavering optimism to overcome these constant obstacles.

John Gartner, an assistant clinical-psychiatry professor at Johns Hopkins University and author of the book “The Hypomaniac Edge,” theorizes that many well-known entrepreneurs have a temperament called hypomania. They’re highly creative, energetic, impatient and very persistent — traits that help them persevere even when others lose faith.

…

I can’t find a lot to disagree with there.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 9:48 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.