Honest consumer testing

I just have to say, Project Farm has a valuable Youtube channel and is doing some great work. He has tested hundreds of products, tested their claims and compared them to competitors. Often you will find the most expensive product is not the best product, and sometimes it's not even close.

I have taken notes on many of his videos, and even when he tests things I will never buy, it's always an entertaining and interesting video.  

Plus he never takes money nor ideas from the companies whose products he tests, and only gets ideas from his viewers. Here's his latest. 

Truck bedliners are for a niche crowd, so here's something with a broader appeal:

Monetize the eschaton

Usually as a critique of idealistic communists, socialists, or some other lefty with a big idea involving lots of tax dollars and government coercion, we've all heard the sage advice of Voegelin and Buckley cautioning us not to immanentize the eschaton. And well, that got me thinking about North Korea and YouTube.

While not remotely an apples to apples comparison, the two are similar and different enough to suggest an approximation of what and what not to do, if one is seeking power, profit, or paradise. Despite every communist state's flaws, they seek eschaton, and forever fall further and further short. Basically, North Korea is doing it wrong.

But YouTube is doing something right (mostly, kind of).

In short, one tried to immanentize and the other monetized.

I think probably any human effort to usher in some kind of grand paradise is doomed to spectacular failure. However, we're really good at making lots of little paradises, and we're pretty darn good at spotting those little oases.

Your inner socialist is probably telling you to copy from those little paradises and have the government provide it to everyone.

But don't listen to your little Marx, that way lies suffering (it's been tried, ad nauseam).

Instead, listen to that scrappy, greedy little goblin, and find ways to profit from little paradises. Better yet, find ways to profit off of helping people make little paradises.

When you've done that, you've just incentivized a lot of paradise. YouTube has done that. And several other web companies providing solid platforms for the masses.

For many of you, this is so obvious it's cliche. It's capitalism 101. Yet the struggle continues, since we can't help ourselves from erecting barriers to new and old markets.

What's probably less obvious, is that with the rise of mostly boundary-less platform economies, and with regulators' collective lateness to the tech party, there's a lot of room for optimism. I don't think we're even close to reaching the potential there.

chart from Visual Capitalist

Just thinking out loud.

Time to close some tabs

I've been wanting to write about most of the stories behind the following links, sometimes starting a draft, sometimes leaving my browser open for days just to avoid extending my already absurdly long list of bookmarks (sleep mode is my new friend).

Hours, days, a week goes by and I just can't force myself to write about something a week old. It's odd how something seemingly so important is considerably less so a week later. But that's the nature of blogging, and news in general (I never claimed to be a great blogger). Also, distraction.

Image from Toolfools

In no particular order, some interesting stuff, even if a few are a bit old:

First, a few links related to what I'm reading. Glenn Greenwald's new book, "No Place to Hide," so far, is okay. I should finish it tonight.

• UPS Insists That It Is Not Helping The NSA 'Interdict' Packages To Install Backdoors
• This review of Greenwald's new book, "No Place to Hide" by the NYT's Michael Kinsley is inept, almost comically so (I will offer a review of the book soon).

'800 dead babies: if it could, the religious right would bury this story in the same septic tank.' Ignore the tactless linkbait phrasing: this is a big and awfully tragic story. Via The Prussian.

'The 'Miracle' Berry That Could Replace Sugar' and help millions effectively fight obesity.

Remember the Gibson Guitar raids? There may be more to that story.

This piece is over a month old, but I remember wanting to discuss it. I just don't remember why, exactly (obviously something to do with the ousting of the Mozilla CEO, Brenden Eich). It's still a good read however.

• But if you read this blog post from Mozilla, it is maddening. What are they talking about? I'm so sick of vague language--it probably was mostly read as an apology for letting Hitler run their business. BUT, because it's so vague, it can just as easily be read to suggest that they are very sorry for their intolerance--evinced by ousting a man for having an opinion. Even though it was a very common opinion, one shared by Barrack Obama at the time.

Three links from Slate Star Codex:

• 'Weak Men Are Superweapons'
• 'Infinite Debt'
• And 'Nerds can be Bees Too,' which led me to this old post by Bryan Caplan, where he is excoriated in the comments (mainly because people freak the hell out over someone wanting open immigration--which wasn't even mentioned in that post).

I always wanted to try something like this. I tend to think I could easily succeed, but if my Thanksgiving experiences are any indication, probably not.

I want to write a post about anonymity on the Internet, which was partly inspired by this post from the Last Psychiatrist. I will write that post one day.

So VA Secretary Eric Shinseki and White House press Secretary Jay Carney resigned. Why does everything feel like it's all heavily scripted, like a bad TV show? Probably because it is.

• Is it just me, or are presidential and senatorial politics are feeling very Orwellian, almost Soviet when it comes to appearances? I know congressional politics is highly susceptible to populism, but at least it's a lot more transparent--which makes me reconsider term lengths for the other two (but that's not about to happen).

Comcast, Netflix, and data caps... If you, like me, have given up watching TV through traditional means, be afraid, be very afraid. Relatedly, I've found if you spend enough time searching for channels you like--and they probably all exist--YouTube can all but replace your entire visual entertainment diet. Some people say YouTube is a bubble about to burst; I say it's just getting warmed up.

Possible blog post spoilers (lol, like anyone cares). Stuff I found in the last day or two I kinda want to write about:

'GOP House Votes To Leave States Alone On Medical Marijuana.' Despite the headline, note that the GOP votes in favor were decidedly a minority of GOP votes. At least they allowed a vote on it.

'Scientists Report Finding Reliable Way to Teleport Data'

'It's Time to Stop Babying Mars'

The Entertaining Drama of Online FPS Games

I used to play an online FPS game, and still probably would today if I felt like getting sucked in to an overwhelming addiction (or play casual and suck at it). So for me, this YouTube series I stumbled onto was hilariously salient. But I think most people would find it entertaining.

We all love to hate stupid people. In the world of gaming, we call these players noobs, and they are abundant (yes, even veteran players can be noobs--noobness no longer is limited to newness).

In real life, stupid has consequences and only rarely is it funny. In games however, while stupid people are frustrating, often they are the source of unlimited amusement.

So enjoy about 1.5 hours worth of solid satirical FPS gaming entertainment:

Props to Hank and Jed. If you like what you saw, that was all from them.