How to stop Asian hate for $12

If you’re passionate about #StopAsianHate, you’ll probably want to invest $11.99 in a “Tolerant” wok from IKEA. Photographed October 3, 2021 in Sunrise, Florida: #ProblemSol… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Portuguese stock picks

If you want some insurance against future Europe-US travel restrictions, want your children to have the flexibility to study/work/live in the EU, or just want to be like Eric Schmidt (support Biden… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Restaurants need to shift to electronic menus for real-time price adjustments?

From a barbecue joint in Boynton Beach, Florida: “due to the shortages of commodities within the market such as chicken wings, pork and also beef we must increase the prices from what the men… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

How did you end up celebrating Latinx Heritage Month?

The Federal government says that today is the last day of “National Hispanic American Heritage Month”. What did you do to celebrate? Why doesn’t the post headline agree with the g… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Folks who refuse to follow Dr. Biden’s vaccine orders are weakly hesitating (not boldly “Resisting”)

During four years of tyranny, anyone who posted a criticism of Donald Trump on Facebook or Twitter was boldly #Resisting. Example from my late friend Mike Hawley (the below was liked and loved 119 … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Things that are difficult to buy in Florida

Florida is not lacking in big box stores and the ones we’ve been in so far have generally been nicer, cleaner, and newer than their counterparts in Maskachusetts (exception: Costco in Palm Be… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Canon mirrorless versus Sony?

Now that we have near-Biden levels of free cash to spend (rent in Florida is cheaper than property tax plus lawn mowing in Maskachusetts and our neighborhood has a lot more to offer, especially for… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Do the unvaccinated collect unemployment after being placed on “unpaid leave”?

“Thousands of Unvaccinated New York City School Employees Placed on Unpaid Leave” (Wall Street Journal, 10/4/2021) describes those who #Resist, but not in a good way: Thousands of New Y… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

A woman’s love letter to herself and the no-fault divorce system

How did the U.S. end up with double the percentage of children living without two parents compared to a lot of European countries? (link to some data) “Divorce Can Be an Act of Radical Self-L… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

My dream realized: four hours of government questioning regarding 35mm v. 120 v. 4×5

From the city that has been the heart of America’s camera repair industry, “LaGuardia Scare Sparked by Woman’s Mistake About Flier’s Phone Videos, Camera: Source” (NBC… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Corpus Juris Canonici for academic cancellations (MIT)

From a Johns Hopkins professor, “Why the Latest Campus Cancellation Is Different” (Atlantic): Following a Twitter outcry, a scientist was stopped from giving a lecture at MIT for reason… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

MIT uses the butterfly effect to heal our planet

Dr. Jill Biden, M.D., Ph.D.’s colleague Dr. Jeff Goldblum, Ph.D. explains the Butterfly Effect, i.e., that a butterfly flapping its wings in China could change the weather weeks later in the … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

North-South 6-month alternating aircraft partnership idea

Google Calendar informs me, via its “Holidays in United States” calendar, that today is both Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day. So… to all readers who celebrate incom… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Uber has given up on the Afghan refugees?

Last month, Uber was 100 percent devoted to helping Afghan refugees (using $2 million from shareholders and customers rather than executive personal contributions, of course!). See Relative importa… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

The only way to win is not to play

A group chat in which a friend with a 12,000-square-foot house describes his efforts at updating the home theater with built-in ceiling speakers: friend: My house has built in 5.1 speakers in the c… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

The one-month anniversary of Dr. Joe Biden, M.D.’s vaccination order for Head Start workers

From the US Department of HHS: Vaccination of Head Start staff is essential as we work together to build back out of the COVID-19 pandemic and move toward fully in-person services. On September 9, … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

How will the Afghan refugees get washing machines? (WSJ)

“Why It’s Easier to Find Expensive Appliances Than Cheaper Ones” (WSJ): Whirlpool, GM and other companies are prioritizing higher-price products as they try to offset supply-chain snarl… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Facebook reminds me to get with the program

I haven’t been using Facebook since my father died (see Should one stay off Facebook, Instagram, et al. following the death of a parent?), but I checked in on my birthday last month. HereR… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Finally a use case for cryptocurrency? (currency conversion fees)

I did a lot more research after Portuguese stocks or Lisbon real estate for the next five years? (May) and, as part of an EU citizenship project, decided to purchase stocks over in Portugal rather … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Follow-up on the Coinbase corporate version of Florida

A year ago, the CEO of Coinbase paid employees who were the most passionate about social justice and political causes to leave. See “Coinbase is a mission focused company” and also R… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Hospitals are full; doctors and nurses have quit; hospitals advertise for new patients

Aristotle is the most relevant ancient philosopher for our age (see Coronascientists are the modern Aristotles?) and, as it happens, is credited with documenting the syllogism. Here’s the Cor… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

No, no, no on Windows 11

Today is the official launch of Microsoft’s Windows 11. How’s my $2,500 state-of-the-art-in-2015 PC doing with the new software? Here’s the report from PC Health Check: I thought … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

The concerns of a Massachusetts public school superintendent

Email last month from the superintendent of schools in a nearly-all-white suburb of Boston: The Superintendent’s Bulletin can be accessed by clicking on the link below: Superin… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Should investors react to the change in Germany’s government?

After 16 years of rule by Angela Merkel and the Christian Democrats, the government in Germany is changing. I talked to some European bankers and a former hedge fund manager to find out what, if an… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

California versus Florida government workers

Jesus said “The last shall be first and the first last.” Perhaps he was talking about government workers in Florida and California who swapped jobs? Searching the Web for teaching examp… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Power of suggestion and wishful thinking (shutdowns and masks preventing the common cold)

Friends and neighbors in Massachusetts who were Shutdown and Mask Karens (i.e., nearly all of my friends and neighbors who weren’t pilots, doctors, or medical school professors!) reported tha… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Carousel of Social Progress for Disney World?

We hid from the afternoon rain at Magic Kingdom’s Carousel of Progress, which covers technological progress fairly well: Follow an American family over 4 generations of progress and watch tec… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Coronapanic orders from governors meet the American people

From California, one of the world centers of optimism regarding the power of government, via shutdown and mask orders, to reduce, not merely delay, coronavirus infections: “The number of babi… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Political logic: We can’t pay for the essentials, so let’s spend $1.5 trillion on new stuff

From West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin’s official site: Every Member of Congress has a solemn duty to vote for what they believe is best for the country and the American people, not their par… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

The last person that I saw in Massachusetts

It’s October, the month when rich people show up to their South Florida houses (folks without kids in school don’t rush back to catch the 90-degrees-and-humid high temps of August and S… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Buy Berkshire Hathaway?

With tax law and tax rate changes on the horizon, is it time to buy Berkshire Hathaway? Nobody is better connected to the current rulers than loyal Democrat Warren Buffett (he thinks tax rates are … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

U.S. after Afghanistan loss is like Russia after World War I defeat?

Fresh from losing a war, we’re in the midst of a transformation of the role and size of government, e.g., “From Cradle to Grave, Democrats Move to Expand Social Safety Net” (nytim… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

How did the U.S. run out of coins if more people are paying by credit cards?

One of the things that struck me when I first began visiting Central America 30 years ago was the inability of some governments to manage what I had taken for granted in the U.S.: producing enough … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

When you love books enough to murder them: 1DollarScan.com

A couple of months ago: Has anyone tried a book scanning service for Kondoization or pre-move preparation? I’ve got the first batch of results from 1DollarScan now and the scanned pages are i… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Zoolander and what it would have taken to get Democrats to support a border wall

President Biden has ostentatiously deported, contrary to international law, at least a small percentage of the Haitians who walked across the river in Texas. This has been done in a manner far more… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Best paint treatments for cars and airplanes?

I am concerned that there hasn’t been enough disagreement here on this blog on religious topics, e.g., whether mask use by the general population reduces or delays coronavirus infection (mask… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Correlation versus Causation (COVID-19 is now killing Republicans)

Today’s New York Times carries an article saying that COVID-19 is now almost exclusively a disease of Republicans: “Red Covid; Covid’s partisan pattern is growing more extreme.” T… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Will Kathy Hochul be Florida health care worker Recruiter of the Year?

Folks in the South Florida real estate industry dubbed Andrew Cuomo the “Florida Realtor of the Year” in gratitude for all of the money that they made selling houses to people fleeing N… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Rent our your new car via Turo for tax savings?

Cars have never been in such short supply. Rental cars that I’ve been lucky enough to find, in our inflation-free economy, cost 2X what similar cars at the same locations cost in 2019, e.g., … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Disney World during Code Orange coronapanic

Trigger warning: This post includes a description of a 911 call with screaming. Most of the U.S. was at Code Yellow for about 8 years and aviation was at Code Orange under the Homeland Security Adv… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Chris Cuomo and what to avoid doing on the It’s a Small World ride

“Chris Cuomo Sexually Harassed Me. I Hope He’ll Use His Power to Make Change.” (New York Times, today): “Now that I think of it … I am ashamed,” read the subject line of a 2005 email Mr… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

It’s hard to fight the centuries-old idea that womanhood and childbirth are inextricably linked

From CNET, originally a source of information about technology, “Women aren’t the only people who can get pregnant”: Not everyone who gives birth is a mom. Trans, non-binary and i… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Masketology down the East Coast

What happens when a society that is so organized and detail-oriented that it needs to buy all of its integrated circuits from Taiwan, China, Japan, and Korea (and stop making cars when those countr… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

U.S. promotion of shutdowns and coronapanic results in migration boom

From today’s Wall Street Journal: “Latin American Migration, Once Limited to a Few Countries, Turns Into a Mass Exodus; Haitian standoff in Texas reflects broader mix of nationalities f… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Don’t take health advice from the ignorant

“Why So Many Tennis Players Don’t Want the Covid Vaccine” (NYT, August 30) describes a heretic and a suspected marrano: Third-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas caused an uproar in his native Gr… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

A month of not being told how or what to think comes to an end

Compared to Maskachusetts or California, one of the remarkable features of life in our corner of Florida (Palm Beach County) is the lack of folks telling others how and what to think. In the Boston… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Taking credit for Black accomplishment in “White Papers”

As part of my teaching efforts this semester, I stumbled on , which then leads to the organization’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion page: “terms like Blacklist, Whitelist, and many ot… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Why are we deporting anyone to Haiti?

On May 22, 2021, the Biden Administration decided that nobody could be sent back to Haiti (DHS.gov): Today, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas announced a new 18-month designation… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago