If you piled up all of America’s surplus cheese, this is how large it would be

By Brian Resnick and Javier Zarracina  Jun 28, 2018, 5:00pm EDT

From The Guardian:

David Lynch: ‘You gotta be selfish. It’s a terrible thing’

The Twin Peaks director lives for his work. He talks about his four marriages, why explaining his films is a ‘crime’, and what makes him a happy camper

From Stratechery:  Intel and the Danger of Integration. A quote from the end:

Intel has spent the last several years propping up its earnings by focusing more and more on the high-end, selling Xeon processors to cloud providers. That approach was certainly good for quarterly earnings, but it meant the company was only deepening the hole it was in with regards to basically everything else. And now, most distressingly of all, the company looks to be on the verge of losing its performance advantage even in high-end applications.

This is all certainly on Krzanich, and his predecessor Paul Otellini. Then again, perhaps neither had a choice: what makes disruption so devastating is the fact that, absent a crisis, it is almost impossible to avoid. Managers are paid to leverage their advantages, not destroy them; to increase margins, not obliterate them. Culture more broadly is an organization’s greatest asset right up until it becomes a curse.

From the BBC:  Sarah Sanders kicked out of restaurant because of work for Trump

The interesting part to me is that people are calling this “bigotry” and comparing it to the recent Supreme Court case where a bakery refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple.

Let’s all understand this. Bigotry is automatic dislike for a large group of people for reasons beyond their control, like being born black or Jewish or even gay.  To dislike an individual for their personal beliefs and actions is really just about the opposite of bigotry.  Nobody is refusing Sanders service because she is a woman, or because she is from Arkansas.  That would be wrong.  Refusing her service for her stance on immigration, or any other policy is fair game for a public figure.  She wants to have it both ways, and anyone who lets her has been bamboozled.

Wen to the Denver Central Market to pick up some snacks before dinner.  There were some nice baguettes in a basket at a sandwich place. We bought some cheese and crackers and I asked what the price was, since they weren’t marked.

“We can’t sell them,” I was informed.  Seems they just sell sandwiches and the bakery on the other side of the market could sell me some bread.  Except I had just been there and they were out of baguettes.  It was 5:30 pm, surely I could buy one of the dozen or so baguette they had prominently displayed.

No way.  There was some sort of strict non-compete clause.  Perhaps they were concerned that some sort of trade war would erupt, with the bakery selling sandwiches.  So I went back to the bakery and bought four cibatta rolls, which didn’t really interest me.

The more I thought about it the more agitated I became.  I told my wife and daughter I was going back to try and negotiate for some French Bread.  Perhaps barter using the cibatta.

The bearded young hipster who I bought the cheese and crackrs from earlier had left (in fact, I saw him heading toward the bakery, though it could have just been the bathroom, I suppose).  I presented my dilemma o the woman behind the counter and made a simple proposition: cibatta for a baguette.  She seemed to blush and quickly offered to just give me some already sliced bread.  She slid open a drawer with maybe another dozen halved baguettes.  I felt a bit guilty.  I quickly took one, stuffed it into my bag, made sure nobody was watching, and stuffed two dollars into the tip jar.  I thanked her, but she ignored me.  I showed it to my wife and daughter who laughed and we headed back home for a snack.

Two of my favorite quotes:

“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.”

― Isaac Asimov, Foundation

Democracy don’t rule the world,; You’d better get that in your head.; This world is ruled by violence; But I guess that’s better left unsaid.

— Bob Dylan, Union Sundown

If you put these two together, you come up with something interesting:  this world is ruled by the incompetent.  Explains a lot.

Since 2015 there has been lots of speculation from the Fringe on the possible reasons for a string of Walmart closings here in Texas.  Many were worried about some terrible government plot to use these vacant big box stores for something nefarious, among other things, storing food for invading Chinese troops, FEMA run concentration camps after the imposition of Martial Law orentrances for secret underground military bases.  Turns out they were all wrong.  They are just being used to hold large numbers of foreign children that the government has separated from their parents. Nothing to see here.

Walmart Closure Conspiracy Theories

Conspiracy theories about why several WalMart stores suddenly closed in April 2015.