First Blog

Hate to sound pessimistic, but... Whenever anyone thinks they have a solution to the MIddle East, they are wrong. The biggest problem are a religion and leaders that seem willing to sacrifice its people en masse . It has leaders who simply wish arbitrary power with religious sanction. The USA and Europe are essentially unequipped to manage such conflicting desiderata. Europe has simply given up, but the USA continues to try. Expect little and you will not be disappointed. Trump is absolutely magnificent at commercial deals, but Middle East war is different. It is a place where power is everything, and religion is placed in its service. Or is it vise-versa? China, at least, views the world in terms of profit and power. This is not easy but easier. Human rights? Redistribution? Freedom of speech? Come on, already. Not there; never was; never will be. What the West does not realize is these modern Middle East leaders view themselves in historical terms.  At various

Basic comment on the China deal.   My message to the Trade Team.   “Do what you can, BUT accept what cannot be done.”   Probable facts. 1. China has already stolen enough technology and materials to sustain them for at least ten years.   They need no more now, but cannot give up their practices if only to save face. 2. China will continue to hack.   3. China will continue to promote their information hegemony worldwide, and military hegemony in the Pacific. China’s military development in the the South China Sea.   What can you do except get promises?   Here you can exert tariff policies if it continues.   This is measurable! China’s space explorations and militarization.   These will continue regardless. This is not measurable! Trade deal.   Negotiate a move toward a fiscal quid pro quo over the next six/seven years. This is measurable! China’s foreign corporate ownership (in China).   This should be a non negotiable part of a trade agreement.   China is bending

The greatest contribution of the USA.   The USA has produced remarkably to the world over the past century or two.   Include construction, metals production, electronics, machinery, nuclear energy sources, aviation, medicine, and more.   Which is the greatest?   And the answer is …  Agriculture.   American scientists have developed the disease resistant crops, fertilizers, and farming methods currently feeding the world.   Without all this chow there would be no now – as we know it.   ---------------- Today’s math problem .   Let’s say the prime interest rate is 5%, and it goes up to 5.5%. Clearly the interest rate is up by 0.5%.   But, in going from 5% to 5.5% the increase is really 10%.   So which is it? Up by 0.5% or up by 10%?   And the answer is… Both.   It depends on what and how you’re counting.   In the 0.5% increase we are discussing the net increase in the borrowing percentage.   But in the 10% increase we are discussing the percentage increase of the percen

What has happened to the US Government?  It seems like Congress is doing little, either party, preferring to squabble internally, or not allowing compromise.  Sometimes both.  The consequence is that the President makes regulations and takes other executive actions.  Both parties here.  The courts have become the legislature, assuming the job of interpreting the law in some preferred fashion – and their “legal” arguments are increasingly weak and partisan*.  I believe this era of polarized politics is the root cause of the dysfunction. I believe some persons or some organizations are at the switch, keeping this state of conflict at high tension.  For some of these, the goal is the reshaping of America toward some uncertain model.  For others, there seems to be a harkening to return to the traditional certainty and comfort of a remembered past. The central issue these days is Obamacare.  It seems no one likes it much, at least those paying the full freight of premiums.  But whi

If North Korean (NOKO) dictator Kim jong un cared about his people, he would feed them, not go about launching expensive missiles which can do his country no good, except court the enmity of his neighbors and the world. Kim wants his own life more than anything, but I fear if he senses his end is imminent, he may do anything, and I mean anything.  USA and even China should be careful here.  The only possibility to end Kim’s regime is a sudden coup from within. Kim knows this well. What NOKO wants .  Attention, benefit deals, a place on the world stage for Kim.  Possibly a screen for China. What China wants .  A distraction.  As long as NOKO is being the bad boy, outrageous, and blustering, who pays attention to what China is up to – such as building military islands in the South China Sea?  Banking sanctions?  Phooey.  Just move the money around.  China is already prepared for this.  The only peaceful recourse for the USA is to exact tariffs on imported Chinese produced go

Which country has the largest population?  You know this one.  It is China.  But did you know the second largest population, India, is a mere 3% smaller?  Below we list the top six world populations. They comprise about 50% of the total world population of 7.5 billion people.  Is your country there? Rank Country Population 2017 Total Population  Cumulative Population 1 China 1,388,232,693     18.5% 18.5% 2 India 1,342,512,706     17.9% 36.4% 3 U.S. 326,474,013      4.3% 40.7% 4 Indonesia 263,510,146      3.5% 44.2% 5 Brazil 211,243,220      2.8% 47.0% 6 Pakistan 196,744,376      2.6% 49.6%   World 7,515,284,153     100.0%   Which are the smallest populations?  These you cannot possibly guess.  The lowest, the Vatican, has a population of only 810 folks. In this country, you can actually know everybody!  It goes up, but no

FLOPS.   What is a FLOPS? It is the number of multiplications a computer can compute in one second,  far less than additions, though not quite.   It is the number of floating point operations a computer can compute in a single second.   A floating point number has a bunch of digits (e.g. 12) times a power of ten.   For example, most computers would have native trouble with the number 12345678901234546789012345, but they do well with approximations such as 1234567890 x 10^16. This means you lose some precision, i.e. accuracy, but you get the magnitude.     Let’s not devolve into software that can handle very high precision numbers, or the precise representation of floating point numbers inside the computer. It is enough here to know that we are working with numbers having a fixed number of digits together with a power of ten.   Let’s just talk about the FLOPS, floating point operations per second, of the native hardware. You know computers are fast, and expensive computers