Collected Links (05/31/2022)

• NYT Wirecutter "52 Things We Love" HP Officejet Pro 9015e printer, ChefsChoice Trizor XV knife sharpener, Milwaukee Fastback utility knife, Nektech 60W USB-C GaN charger, Nidra Deep Rest eyemask, Novaform Comfortgrand mattress, Channellock wirecutters, Cuisinart Chef's Convection toaster oven.
• Fox News: "Biden's refusal to send rockets to Ukraine shows 'complete lack of strategy' from White House: Victoria Coates" -- classic Fox News: irresponsible title of an irresponsible article -- irresponsibility here that extends to outright dishonesty. First, the U.S. is sending rockets to Ukraine -- indeed, the U.S. under the Biden administration is by far the leading supplier of arms to Ukraine. The announcement the Fax News story related to involves an announcement of an additional $700 million military aid to Ukraine, including advanced medium range rockets. So, the headline and article are dishonest. Second, in fact the U.S. is not sending one type of advanced long range rocket that would potentially expand the conflict by allowing Ukraine to begin an offensive against Russia as the missiles can be targeted missiles at sites in the Russian interior. Strategically, we cannot allow that, nor can we contravene our NATO allies on this, and they surely would not allow this. So, there's significant strategic concerns here, not a "complete absence of it. Third, the "complete lack of strategy" quote -- itself hyperbole even if there was some strategic disagreement (which there isn't) -- was not actually made on the missile decision per see but to the announcement of it. Coates says that our saying what we're going to do is a "complete lack of strategy." So, Fox News overtly distorted it for a headline and article. Fourth, using representing a cherry picked quote from "talking head" is not news although it is represented on the broadcast as news. Note, in this regard, Fox News has separate news and commentary divisions. This is from the news side. Fifth, the line between news and commentary at Fox, as demonstrated in part by this article, is becoming non-existent. Fox, apparently, is abandoning attempts to even superficially present news straight. This is why the most ethical of their anchors (in my view) -- Shep, Chris -- have quit. And Sixth this is not just casual dishonesty: this story was "pushed" to me by Fox News. UPDATE: It turns out the U.S. is in fact sending the very weapons in question. Not seeing a correction from Fox. Instead I see "Russia Stages Nuclear Drills After U.S. Announces Rockets to Ukraine" -- which flatly contradicts in its own deceptive way the thesis of Fox News's first salacious and untrue article, discussed above -- and "Biden's Latest $700M Ukraine Weapons Package: Here's Everything in It".
• Knee Drives for Exercise -- to stretch and exercise my weak points (well some of the many)
  
• Bionic Reading Font -- I, personlly, find this much easier to read quickly and with comprehension -- I think this is a great idea.
• "Trump’s Fiscal Legacy: A Comprehensive Overview of Spending, Taxes, and Deficits" -- bottom line: during the Trump presidency we added $3.9 trillion to the U.S. deficit.
• At Quartz: "A Harvard Economist Summarizes His Class on Monopolies in 54 Tweets"

Collected Links (05-30-2022)

• Why much published research is wrong (problems with p-values, etc.)
• Calculating p-values: Wikipedia; Wolfram (discussion); Kahn Academy (slyt)
• Ceramics by Ariana Heinzman (on Colossal) -- hand made vessels, bright abstracted floral motif (mostly) surface decoration
• Wisteria in Japan (on Colossal)
  
• "Japanese Suburbs in Watercolor" (on Nag on the Lake) -- lovely
  
• Flora Yukhonovich -- abstracted Rococo paintings
  
• "Latecomers [Edited] Guide to Crypto" (via Tim) Annotated "grossly irresponsible" NYT tech article -- although some of the annotations are trenchant, a fair number are just sniping. "Crypto," of course, is not tangible property -- its proponents would have us believe it's a currency. It's subject to the same quasi-ponzi scheme and speculation driven concerns as any intangible asset; concerns that currencies are not pegged to any tangible standard, such as gold, have been the source of hand wringing for at least 150 years. That's repeated again in the annotations. Yet except in El Salvador (currently) crypto's not an official currency anywhere, it's not a necessary means of exchange, and it's highly speculative as an investment. It may have benefit for this who want to wash or shelter assets (despite the articles suggestions otherwise). But I'm not an investor. 
  
• Maps for proposed walks around London (on a blog called A Lady in London) (via Nag on the Lake)
  

Astellism (and the Alpha Astari) [from The Codex]

[Introduction to The Codex]

The World is but so large, yet the Astelli imagine infinities.

To the Astelli our world is but one of an endless number, one for each star in the sky. Each person follows a path among worlds. After death each of us is reborn into a new world. We begin again as infants.

The path we trace is our family path. It is the path of our ancestors and our descendants. Not all lives are equally long. On rebirth, then, we may rejoin some of our ancestors and descendants as well as close family members. Here we have a chance to talk, to love, to look after each other again. Or to revisit old hates and resentments.

We do this although we are not conscious of our prior lives. We know their feeling although we do not know why. Their knowledge lies deep in our subconscious.