September 2013 Archives
- "Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation."
- "The probability that a certain person be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person."
- "A stupid person is a person who caused losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses."
- "Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places and under any circumstances to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be costly mistake."
- "A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person. Corollary: A stupid person is more dangerous than a bandit."
"One is tempted to believe that a stupid man will only do harm to himself but this is confusing stupidity with helplessness. On occasion one is tempted to associate oneself with a stupid individual in order to use him for one's own schemes. Such manoeuvre cannot but have disastrous effects because a) it is based on a a complete misunderstanding of the essential nature of stupidity and b) it gives the stupid person added scope for the exercise of his gifts. One may hope to out manoeuvre the stupid and, up to a point, one may actually do so. But because of the erratic behavior of the stupid, one cannot foresee all the stupid's actions and reactions and before long one will be pulverized by the unpredictable moves of the stupid partner. "
Italian researchers suggest random selection of legislators (sortition) as a way to improve representative government, using Cipolla's categories as a basis. Full report here.
(Via Ace of Spades HQ.)
California Road Signs and Sights Gallery
Photos of landmarks on California highways, plus scans of historic California state highway maps from 1936, 1956, 1961, and 1966, showing the development of the freeway system, and signs and sites from New Mexico, Missouri, and elsewhere.
DigitalBookIndex: Federal Writers' Project
Here are two pages of links to downloadable copies, many of them free, of the American Guide Series produced in the 1930s and 1940s by the Federal Writers' Project. It's a snapshot of travel and life in America before the homogenization of television and interstates. Each state book featured maps and guides to the main cities, driving tours that followed each major highway from one end of the state to the other, and essays on the state's history, culture, and economy. Many city and regional guides were also published.
Some of the links will take you to the Prelinger Collection of the Internet Archive, which offers many of the books in text, PDF, eBook, Kindle, and other formats, so you can easily take them along on your travels. (When will AAA publish their TourBooks for the Kindle?)
Bloggers Don't Die, They Just Burn Out. | Andrew J. Patrick
"I started blogging myself in 2003, and I'm still doing it. But I've burned out a couple of times. It happens. It starts to feel like a job, or worse, an unpaid internship that never ends. You start getting bored with the struggle to say something that several million people are not already saying. So you just stop."
Translation table explaining the truth behind British politeness becomes internet hit - Telegraph
The British art of polite understatement -- intended to communicate subtly while preserving the dignity of all concerned -- only works when everyone knows the code. (The Brits aren't alone. Filipino culture is noted for its value of "Smooth Interpersonal Relationship" or pakikisama.)
Translation table explaining the truth behind British politeness becomes internet hit - Telegraph
The British art of polite understatement -- intended to communicate subtly while preserving the dignity of all concerned -- only works when everyone knows the code. (The Brits aren't alone. Filipino culture is noted for its value of "Smooth Interpersonal Relationship" or pakikisama.)
