Perspective.

 

Today's Tids Issue 5,117 

Running with rumors 

 

 

I feel the sun's rays grow longer. 

I feel the warmth of Spring’s sun 

Yet Winters cold still descends 

In Ukraine where war’s just begun. 

As I walk upon my peaceful land 

I try so hard to understand 

The evil in one man’s heart. 

That would tear human lives apart. 

 

Eleven years from now, 3/3 with be historical all over again. 

 

If you shave in the passenger side rear view mirror, it will appear closer than you thought. 

 

If Putin can force President Velensky to step down and transform Ukraine into a client state like Belarus, the war could end shortly, and he will have created a country in constant insurgency. 

 

The Question: 

Name the past five Men's and Women’s NCAA Basketball champions. 

 

The Headlines: 

--Markets Open Strong But Fades At Noon. 

--Russia Intensifies Assault; Ukraine Refugees Noe Over A Million. 

--Jan 6 Committee Lays Out Evidence Of Criminal Charges Against Trump; He May Have Engaged In Criminal Conspiracy To Remain In Office. 

--Russian Oligarchs Pouring Wealth Into US Real Estate. 

 

I can see in the future people wearing masks and eye goggles to prevent Infectious diseases and carjackers with pepper spray. 

 

The world gets weirder. 

 

Showtime has a good new series called Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber. It’s based on a Non-fiction novel by Marc Issac. It is lively and keeps you watching. This is an eight sec tween episode series. But here is the cool thing about “Super Pumped”. Showtime signed a contract with Issac to write several more non-fiction stories about big tech. They are already working on the next season which will be “Super Pumped: Facebook”, and will be about the real relationship between Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg. This series “Super Pumped” could go on forever, getting inside tech company minds and egos. The cast of the Uber series is excellent. 

 

A lot of death knells for the Euro and Dollar in the wake of Russai sanctions is hyperbole at best. The rush to crypto is am almost all speculative and not a sign of things to come. Chian will not sell their assets backing the dollar because there is no substantive alternative. Cries of monetary collapse are all part of hysteria in this unpredictable moment in time. 

 

Actual headline, Department: 

“Homicide victims rarely talk to police.” 

 

The idea if bringing manufacturing back to the lower forty-eight could be very good for small precision parts manufacturers. It will work well when machines can do more of the work now done by humans. Without that, the cost of labor in the US would make too many basic products unaffordable to the average person. I personally am a big fan of making stuff ourselves. But the cost of doing it here would certainly add to inflation. It's the old vicious circle thing. 

 

I am a sports nut, but I would never pay the prices at stadiums and arenas to see a game live. I can get just as excited on my couch. 

 

We all talk about how nice it was to be energy independent for a relative minute or two. But one of your genius co-readers suggests that if we work towards anything it should be to making us also “Chip” independent.  

 

In the early 1980s two guys and I once put together a proposal to start a magazine called “Chip”, a monthly B2B effort dedicated to the growth of the microprocessor in industry. Like three country Yokels we walked down through the canyons of Wall Street to meet with a major investment company. We had a good meeting, but they didn't quite get the idea of no subscription income. Today just about everything needs a microprocessor somewhere. The advances in microprocessor applications would be the basis to being able to bring back manufacturing, if the unions would allow it.  

 

TV daytime, morning and afternoon, talk shows are inane. No wonder the USA is losing its mind. 

 

Problem in America today, Department: 

“The congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday said former President Donald Trump may have engaged in criminal conduct in his bid to overturn his election defeat.” “May” have..., and the media who hates him will run with that as a guilty verdict. This Tidlet isn’t about DT, it’s about rush to judgement which has become more prevalent in the USA especially with the arrival of undisciplined social media. Too often in the name of truth, the internet allows discovering the past of anybody, uncovering delicate incidents often meaningless to a person's character years later. Repetition in social media rises to instant guilt or just plain old character assassination, possibly loss of family and job and dollars. The accusation becomes the guilty verdict no matter how a person has changed or how innocent they are proven to be. The NY Times picked up that Trump suggestion of guilt and even they have treated it as only a possibility, those who want it to be true run with it. 

 

You can talk about millennials, but which generation linoleumed over all those beautiful hardwood floors. 

 

The Answer: 

For the Men we have Baylor, Virginia, Villanova, North Carolina, and Villanova. Before that it was Duke, UConn, Louisville, Kentucky and UConn. For the women we had Stanford, Baylor, Notre Dame, South Carolina and UConn. Before that we had UConn, UConn, UConn, Baylor and Texas A&M. Conference Championships are starting now.  

 

Basketball fans, start your pools!