Jerry Seinfeld’s recent book Is This Anything?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am greatly enjoying reading Jerry Seinfeld’s book Is This Anything?, which was published in October. Jerry creates comedy from his observations of everyday objects and events over a 45-year career. One routine titled Sock Closet goes:

 

“When you buy socks they always come on a tiny hangar. Does anybody have a tiny sock closet to hang them up? Tiny doors. Go through them to pick out what you’re wearing that day (fingers going through). ‘Argyle … crew … tube sock … over the calf.’ “

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I roll up each pair of my socks, as shown above. Long ago I learned to buy at least two pairs in a color or pattern, because inevitably one will wear through or get lost. Jerry has two other sock routines - The Sock Escape and The Sock Left Behind.

 

Another routine titled Car-tastic says:

 

“I love cars. It’s my favorite physical object. I don’t know why I think this. My only theory is, when you’re driving: You’re outside and you’re inside. You’re moving, and you’re completely still, all at the same time.”

 

On May 10, 2020 I blogged about how At Netflix there is a new Jerry Seinfeld comedy special. In that post I quoted from a routine which in this book is longer and titled It is what it is:      

 

 “I’m sure some idiot said it to you today. You can’t get through a day without someone going,

‘Well…it is what it is…’

‘Why are you alive? To just say air words that fill the room with meaningless sounds?’

I’d rather someone just blew clear air in my face than said ‘It is what it is’ to me one more time. Just come up to me and go, ‘Ppppppphhhhhhh.’ I get the same data from that. People know no one’s going to challenge them when they say ‘It is what it is.’

No one’s going to go, ‘I don’t think it is.’ ‘You don’t?’ ‘No. I believe it is what it isn’t.’

People repeat words because it gives them confidence. They can say it with strength. ‘Business is business.’ ‘Rules are rules.’ ‘A deal’s a deal.’ ‘What’s done is done.’

‘But when we go in there, as long as we know what’s what and who’s who, then whatever happens, happens, and it is what it is,’ “

 

The laughing demon mask came from Wikimedia Commons.

 

Christmas messages from the Trumps, the Bidens, and Queen Elizabeth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is interesting to compare the holiday message given by the President Trump and Melania with the one from President-Elect Joe Biden and Dr. Jill. The YouTube video of The President and First Lady’s 2020 Christmas Message lasts for 2:40 and has 352 words:

  

“The President and I want to wish every American a very merry Christmas. During the sacred season Christians celebrate the greatest miracle in human history. More than 2000 years ago God sent his only begotten Son to be with us. An angel announced the birth of our Lord and Savior to humble shepherds. He said, I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all of the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord. You will find the baby wrapped in clothes and lying in a manger. At Christmas we thank God for sending us his Son to bring peace to our souls and joy to the world. As you know, this Christmas is different than years past. We are battling a global pandemic that has affected all of us. Yes[t], through these great challenge we have been inspired by the kindness and courage of citizens across this country. Teachers have worked extraordinar[il]y hard to keep our children learning. Students have delivered groceries to elderly neighbors. Communities have found new ways to stay connected to one another. Courageous first responders, doctors, and nurses have given everything to save lives. Brilliant scientists have developed treatments and vaccines. We are delivering millions of doses of a safe and effective vaccine that soon end this terrible pandemic and save millions and millions of lives. We’re grateful for all of the scientists, researchers, manufacturing workers, and service members who have worked tirelessly to make this breakthrough possible. It is truly a Christmas miracle. During this wonderful time of year we also give thanks for the brave and selfless Americans who keep us safe. We are forever grateful for the men and women of law enforcement, and the heroes of the United States military. In this holy season, we thank God for his infinite love and we pray that the light of his glory will forever shine on this magnificent land. On behalf of Melania and the entire Trump family, we wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.”         

 

The YouTube video of A Holiday Message from the Bidens lasts for 2:09 and has 345 words:  

 

“Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays. Jill and I wish you and your family peace, joy, health and happiness this season. But we know for so many of you in our nation this has been a very difficult year. And we’re reminded in this season of hope our common humanity and what we’re called to do for one another. Many of our fellow Americans are struggling to find work, literally put food on the table, pay their rent or their mortgage. We’re reminded we’re on this earth to care for one another, to give what we can, and to be a source of help and hope to friend and stranger alike. Many families are facing their first Christmas having lost a loved one. And Joe and I know that sorrow. And we know how, in times of grief, a kind word can mean so much. This is also a season of gratitude. And we’re so thankful for the frontline and essential workers who have put themselves at risk for all of us – and for the scientists and researchers who worked to deliver vaccines that are an incredible scientific breakthrough. And we’re thinking of our service members who are far from home and the loved ones who miss them. Our family knows your sacrifice, and our hearts are with you. For the Bidens, we usually have 20 to 25 people over Christmas Eve for dinner, but not this year. We’re going to miss our family, but it’s what we need to do to keep our family safe. We hope you’ll consider limiting travel and the size of family gatherings as well this year. Even as our celebrations are dimmed, we know that this won’t be forever, and brighter days are coming soon. On this holy day, we remember that love and joy can be shared across the farthest distances. We celebrate apart, but not alone, and look forward to next year, when we can come together with renewed appreciation for the people and the traditions we love. So from our family to yours – Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.”

 

The most striking difference between the two is that the Trump speech uses ‘we’ 10 times while the Biden speech uses it 18 times. The Biden speech effectively says that ‘we feel your pain.’ And there also is a wordless 0:41 YouTube video with A Holiday message from Champ and Major Biden. President Trump merrily headed off to Florida for Christmas without either signing or vetoing the relief bill it had taken Congress months to compromise on.

 

The YouTube video of The Queen’s Christmas Broadcast 2020 lasts 7:15. It opens with a mounted band playing God Save the Queen, and closes with the The Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir singing Joy to the World. Elizabeth has been doing a televised Christmas broadcast for over six decades! The first one, from 1957, lasted a very similar 7:26. It contains a message that Trump might well have taken to heart:

 

 “….That it’s possible for some of you to see me today is just another example of the speed at which things are changing all around us. Because of these changes, I’m not surprised that many people feel lost and unable to decide what to hold onto and what to discard; how to take advantage of the new life without losing the best of the old.

 

But it’s not the new inventions which are the difficulty. The trouble is caused by unthinking people who carelessly throw away ageless ideals as if they were old and outworn machinery.

 

They would have religion thrown aside, morality in personal and public life made meaningless, honesty counted as foolishness, and self-interest set up in place of self-restraint.

 

At this critical moment in our history, we will certainly lose the trust and respect of the world if we just abandon those fundamental principles which guided the men and women who built the greatness of this country and Commonwealth.

 

Today we need a special kind of courage, not the kind needed in battle, but a kind which makes us stand up for everything that we know is right, everything that is true and honest. We need the kind of courage that can withstand the subtle corruption of the cynics, so that we can show the world that we are not afraid of the future.

 

It has always been easy to hate and destroy; to build and to cherish is much more difficult. That is why we can take pride in the new Commonwealth we are building. ….”   

 

On a lighter note, from Channel 4, there also is a 3:45 YouTube video titled Deepfake Queen: 2020 Alternative Christmas Message. It is rather amazing.

 

A painting of Christmas Eve 1878 by J. Hoover and Son is from Wikimedia Commons.

 

Be your very own Santa Claus by downloading free e-textbooks about public speaking

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Santa is a fairy tale for kids, but free e-books are real. On December 12, 2017 I blogged about how to Be your own Santa Claus – download free public speaking e-textbooks. In that post I provided links to the Open Textbook Library at the University of Minnesota.

 

There you can find the newer 2019 fourth edition of Exploring Public Speaking by Kris Barton and Barbara G. Tucker. There also is the 2016 book Stand Up, Speak Out (author not identified, but really by Jason S. Wrench), and the 2019 book Speak Out, Call In: Public Speaking as Advocacy by Meggie Mapes. Toastmasters and other students of public speaking will find those e-textbooks useful as references.

  

On September 4, 2020 I blogged about how Two of my blog posts are referenced in a textbook on Exploring Public Speaking.

 

The image was adapted from an 1898 stereograph card titled Santa looking up those who are good at the Library of Congress.

 

Do Wayne Hoffman or the Idaho Freedom Foundation really believe in Santa Claus?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Probably not. Santa Claus is a Christmas fairy tale for children. Yet at the Idaho Freedom Foundation on December 18, 2020 there is an article by Wayne Hoffman titled Dear Santa. His wish is for one gift – an ‘unbiased’ Idaho news reporter. His opinions are way out on the rabid right fringe, so his notion of who would be unbiased is suspect. Another article of his titled A letter to Santa appeared on December 19, 2019.

 

Wayne occasionally has mentioned that he is Jewish (and thus would not have grown up with Santa as his holiday tradition), as he noted in an article on July 1, 2018 titled Rendering personal assistance to people reflects who we are as Idahoans:

“Many of my Mormon friends know that I am Jewish, and (in addition to trying to convert me!) they’ve taught me much about the generosity that is the heart of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It’s one of the features of the church I admire most.”

 

How about the Idaho Freedom Foundation? The What We Believe section in their About web page doesn’t have a clause that mentions Santa Claus. They and Wayne are not above spreading other fairy tales though. On June 22, 2020 I blogged about Will the Idaho Legislature convene a “Red Dawn” special session on June 23, 2020. They had distributed a fairy tale legal opinion claiming the Idaho Legislature could convene itself without the governor.

 

An image of Santa was adapted from a December 7, 1904 Puck magazine cover at the Library of Congress.

 

Is this one showerhead or two?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Kohler Converge shower fixture shown above has a hollow square hand shower on a hose that can be used alone or together with the wall mounted head. When I bought it at Costco in April of 2019, it met the current standard calling for a total flow rate of less than 2.5 gallons per minute (at a supply pressure of 80 psi).

 

But on December 16, 2020 the Trump administration changed the definition so this fixture now would count as having two heads, and thus be allowed to deliver 5 gallons per minute. An article by Timothy Gardner at Reuters on August 12, 2020 is titled Trump hair rinsing complaints prompt U.S. to ease shower standards. A second article by Sean Neumann at People on December 17, 2020 is titled U.S. changes showerhead restrictions – as Trump has complained old rule ruined his ‘perfect’ hair.

 

That silly change is predictable but was unnecessary. It also is bad psychology. The previous standard was met by including a plastic doughnut called a flow restrictor inside the showerhead. Anyone who had a problem with low flow could easily remove the doughnut with a hand tool like a screwdriver. The default was water conservation, which you could opt-out of, if that was necessary. Now if you want to conserve water you have to opt-in and add a flow restrictor. Yet another article by Alpha’s Path at Medium on April 25, 2019 titled Opt-in vs Opt-out psychology said to:

“Make the actions you want to encourage easier, akin to moving downhill; and make the actions you want to discourage more difficult, akin to moving uphill.”

 

Still another article by Michael E. Mann at NBC News Think on December 19, 2020 titled Trump’s toilet obsession is a metaphor for years of flushing climate progress down the drain told about his outrageous exaggeration that people were having to flush their low-flow toilets ten or fifteen times. I’ve never had to flush more than twice.

 

Another fraudulent ‘Shamazon’ email

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tis the season for shopping and fraud. Yesterday I received the totally phony phishing email shown above. The title line should say ‘suspended,’ but instead says ‘suspend’. It claimed to be from Amazon, but the sender address is wrong. It has other bad grammar. The text is missing the word ‘because’ and has the extra phrase ‘to unlock your account’. I did not click on the orange Verify Account box to give those thieves my account information.

Back on June 2, 2017 I had blogged about WARNING: Shamazon and other phony phishing emails.

Don’t botch your spelling!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Typos in visual aids for a speech can occur easily. Even one wrong letter will change the meaning of a word, as is shown above where botch could become batch, bitch, or butch. The vowels U, I, and O are right next to each other on a keyboard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other examples where just changing a vowel will produce one of either three or four words are shown above. There even is a 2015 book by Kalman Toth titled 8100 One Letter Different Word Pairs: Nurture Your IQ.

 

Homophones are another spelling problem. Today’s Pearls Before Swine comic strip has Larry the Crocodile starting a new venture offering the world his opinions. At first his sign says Larry Nose, but then Zebra corrects him, and he fixes it to say Larry Knows.  

 

Use writing prompts to get unstuck

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes we can get stuck when trying to come up with a speech topic. One way around this is to look at a list of prompts for writers. At Writer’s Digest on November 6, 2020 there is an article by Cassandra Lipp titled 81 Creative writing prompts for writers. And at Written Word Media on September 21, 2020 there is another article by Kelsey Worsham titled 500 Writing prompts to help beat writer’s block.

 

Starting from a prompt also is a way to practice impromptu speaking - responding to questions like in the Table Topics section in a Toastmasters club meeting. At Spirited Speech Masters on July 8, 2019 there is yet another article by Lori Huff titled Using writing prompts to improve at Table Topics.

 

The cartoon was adapted from one of a woman thinking of spending her money found at Wikimedia Commons.

 

Should you call me Doctor, or not?

 

When you introduce someone, courtesy calls for giving their title. Sue Fox says in Chapter 5 (Meeting and Greeting, on page 76) of her book on Business Etiquette for Dummies, 2nd edition, 2008 page 76:

“If you know that the woman is a physician, a PhD, or a military officer, use the appropriate title.”

 

But that’s not what Joseph Epstein said in a nasty Walls Street Journal op-ed article on December 11, 2020 titled Is there a Doctor in the White House? Not if you need an M.D. He began by whining:

“Madame First Lady - Mrs. Biden – Jill - kiddo: a bit of advice on what may seem like a small but I think is a not unimportant matter. Any chance you might drop the ‘Dr.’ before your name? ‘Dr. Jill Biden’ sounds and feels fraudulent, not to say a touch comic. Your degree is, I believe, an Ed.D., a doctor of education, earned at the University of Delaware through a dissertation with the unpromising title ‘Student Retention at the Community College Level: Meeting Students’ Needs.’ A wise man once said that no one should call himself ‘Dr.’ unless he has delivered a child. Think about it, Dr. Jill, and forthwith drop the doc.”

 

Quite properly there was lots of negative feedback for Mr. Epstein. At Wonkette on December 12, 2020 there is an article by Robyn Pennacchia titled WSJ guy takes brave stand against Dr. Jill Biden calling herself Dr. Jill Biden. At NPR on December 13, 2020 there is another article by Rachel Treisman titled Op-Ed urging Jill Biden to drop the ‘Dr.’ sparks outrage online. And at CNN Opinion on December 14, 2020 there is yet another article by Kara Alaimo titled Attack on Jill Biden’s ‘Dr.” title is no surprise for women scholars -- and proof she needs to use it.

 

Taylor Swift’s new song, Marjorie, says to: “Never be so clever you forget to be kind.”

 

Mr. Epstein has written so much previously that we can easily use his own words to refute his claim about needing to deliver a baby before you can be called a Doctor. On page 38 of his 2002 book, Snobbery, he said:

 “Within each of the professions – medicine, law, clergy, engineering – there was a hierarchy, and even a hierarchy within each element of the hierarchy. In medicine an M.D. was above an osteopath, an osteopath above a dentist, a dentist perhaps above a veterinarian, a veterinarian above a chiropractor, a chiropractor tied in a panting dead heat with a podiatrist.”

 

So the medical hierarchy goes:

Medical Doctor (MD)

Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO)

Dentist – Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS)

Veterinarian - Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM)

Chiropractor - Doctor of Chiropractic (DC)

Podiatrist - Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (DPM)

 

You wouldn’t expect a dentist, vet, chiropractor, or podiatrist to deliver a baby - but you still would call them a “Dr.”

 

Although Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) is the best known non-medical title containing doctor, there are at least a half dozen others:

Doctor of Arts (D.A.)

Doctor of Divinity (D.D.)

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Doctor of Engineering (Eng.D.)

Juris Doctor (J.D.)

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Doctor of Science (Sc.D.)

 

Mr. Epstein clearly is suffering from a case of envy. In 2003 he wrote a book on it titled Envy (in the Seven Deadly Sins series). On page 12 he referred to the psychoanalyst Melanie Klein as Dr. Klein, which is hilariously overblown. Harriet Pass Freidenreich’s 2002 book Female, Jewish, Educated (the lives of Central European university women) says to the contrary on page 87:

“Although some woman psychoanalysts, including Anna Freud and Melanie Reizes Klein, did not have university degrees, most held doctorates in medicine.”    

 

How many words per sentence are there in U.S. presidential inauguration speeches?

 

That’s a question I never asked. But there is a recent article by N. L. Tsizhmovska and L. M. Martyushev (from the Ural Federal University in Russia) titled Analysis of Sentence Lengths in Public Speaking which answers it. That article appeared in an American Institute of Physics publication titled The VII International Young Researchers’ Conference – Physics, Technology, Innovations (PTI-2000).

They looked at all 58 speeches from 1789 to 2017. From 1789 to 1809 the mean (average) sentence length in a speech was about 50 words, while from 1997 to 2017 it had dropped to just about 20 words. It dropped linearly, as did the median. They also concluded that sentence lengths obeyed a Weibull distribution. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The straight line they showed in their Figure 1 is plotted above. Their text says the linear regression equation is Mean Length = 287.6 – 0.14*Year, but that is a different line about 7 words lower in 1900. For 2020 an average length of 14 words is predicted. The decrease in lengths is so slow that it can only be detected by analyzing over a very long time.  

 

Weasel words from the Idaho Freedom Foundation - after it was revealed they and their board members got government PPP loans

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What happens when how an organization behaves contradicts their previously stated beliefs? Under the What We Believe heading on the About web page for the Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF) they said:

“The Idaho Freedom Foundation exists to advance conservative principles - limited government, free markets and self-reliance…”

 

On December 2, 2020 their Facebook page issued the following preemptive statement:

“Later this afternoon, the Idaho Statesman will publish a story about the Idaho Freedom Foundation receiving money through the Paycheck Protection Program. Without a doubt, this coming hit piece will seek to smear IFF's good name and our vitally important work. Here is IFF President Wayne Hoffman’s statement about this fake controversy:

‘The answer is obvious. The government shut down Idaho’s economy, Idaho businesses and therefore the donors who we depend on to generously support our work. Meanwhile, we also knew that pro-socialist groups would have no problem whatever accepting all the money they could from the government. We decided it only made sense to do the same. That’s not our preference, of course, but the actions of government left us little choice.’ “

On December 3, 2020 there is an article by James Dawson at Boise State Public Radio titled Idaho Freedom Foundation, board members, received millions in federal pandemic loans. It indicated that in April the IFF received $129,883. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It also indicated that five members of the eight on their Board of Directors (who I’ll call polecats) also received loans for their businesses totalling over $2,000,000. In decreasing order those are: Dar Symms (Symms Fruit Ranch) nearly $1,400,000; Bryan Smith (Smith Driscoll and Associates: $133,000) and (Medical Recovery Services: $72,200); Doyle Beck (BECO, Inc and Phenix Construction LLC) $168,200; Bob Tikker (Tikker Engineering) $163,600; Brent Regan (Regan Designs) $74,800;

 

On December 7, 2020 at the Idaho Freedom Foundation web site Wayne Hoffman published an article titled Media again resorts to fake news about PPP, IFF and allies. It also appeared on December 9, 2020 as a guest opinion at the Lewiston Tribune titled Turnabout: The facts show we’ve done nothing wrong. That article ends with the following sentence:

“We have done nothing wrong or inconsistent with our beliefs.”

 

But, of course, applying for and accepting 1% interest, special government loans is NOT being self-reliant (or following the free market), and inconsistent with previously stated beliefs.

 

Wayne rationalized his actions with weasel words under the following four headings (I added the numbers):

1] The PPP loan is a loan, not a ‘handout.’

2] Government compensation for economic loss is consistent with the principles of liberty.

3] IFF, its staff, and its critics also benefit financially from government financing.

4] The problem with government programs isn’t the recipients; it is the programs.

 

Under 1] he elaborated as follows:

“Taking out a loan was the only course of action to protect my organization and its employees in uncertain times. Furthermore, even though taking out a federally-backed loan gives me heartburn, I knew that the socialists we fight everyday wouldn’t have similar reservations and they’d use this moment to advance their awful policy ideas. We couldn’t let that happen.” 

 

But, no matter how you try to slice it, it still is baloney. I could not find a 2019 revenue statement for IFF. In 2018 IFF had revenue which totaled $806,862, so the $129,883 loan was about 16% of that.

 

The weasel and polecat images were adapted from one after page 352 of a 1908 book by William Carnegie titled Practical Game Preserving.  

UPDATE

Somehow I missed that the Coeur d'Alene Press also had an editorial on December 9, 2020 about IFF titled Gov handouts are evil -except when they're not.   

What are you doing in that recipe, and why are you doing it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When following a cookbook recipe, you may get stuck in a rut and just put your brain on hold. My wife and I enjoy watching the America’s Test Kitchen TV show. A couple years ago I bought her a 982-page 2017 hardcover book -  The Complete America’s Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook. I’ve been reading it, and noticed some questionable things.  

 

Let’s look at shrimp. My first example is shrimp burgers, on page 572. Their recipe also appeared in an article on July 29, 2019 at the Associated Press titled How to make a moist, chunky shrimp burger without the mush. It calls for 1-1/2 pounds of extra-large shrimp (21 to 25 per pound), peeled, deveined, and patted dry. Then those shrimp are pulsed to chop them in a food processor. Why did they need to be the more expensive extra-large variety? Wouldn’t large or medium shrimp have worked just as well? There also is a YouTube video titled How to make crispy shrimp burgers. It does instead call for large shrimp (26 to 30 per pound). My second example is a recipe on pages 454 and 455 for Indonesian-Style Fried Rice which also is at their web site. It also calls for extra-large shrimp but then cuts them crosswise into thirds. Again, large shrimp cut in half would work (or whole medium shrimp).

 

Pages 632 and 633 of the cookbook have a recipe for poached eggs. Under WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS it claims:

 

“A touch of vinegar lowered the boiling point of the water so that we were able to cook the eggs over more gentle heat.”

 

But the actual recipe has you put the eggs into the pan of boiling water and then immediately remove the pan from the heat. Therefore the boiling point is irrelevant. An article by Robert Keyzers at the Victoria University of Wellington on November 28, 2019 titled Why do we add vinegar when we are poaching an egg? explains instead that vinegar makes the water more acidic and thus helps coagulate the egg white. Another article at The Splendid Table on April 5, 2017 titled Perfect poached eggs with America’s Test Kitchen agrees. It says that:

 

“We also tried vinegar, which is something that people have been doing for generations. The reason why it actually makes sense : it lowers the pH of the water, causing the egg whites to set at a lower temperature.”     

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a several decades-old story about blindly following a recipe from your grandmother for making a pot roast. She had called for cutting off both ends (shown above), so your mother also did that, and then so did you. An article at Snopes on November 9, 1999 titled Grandma’s cooking secret explains what went on. Grandma had to cut the ends off because she didn’t have a big enough pot to hold the original length of meat. A similar tale is told by Tom Jupile at the Chromatography Forum on November 21, 2005 in an article titled The original “grandma’s ham” story. Back on December 23, 2012 I blogged about Learning from two kinds of articles or books: recipes or mindless rules versus methods or ratios.

 

The image of a shrimp burger (from KFC in Vietnam back in 2007) came via Kham Tran at Wikimedia Commons.

 

Will there be a trade war with China over twist-ties?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No, there will not. At BBC News on November 25, 2020 I heard a report that was described in an article titled US-China trade war: Trump gives one last twist. It was based on a press release on November 24, 2020 titled U. S. Department of Commerce issues affirmative preliminary countervailing duty determination for twist ties from China. They decided that the undervalued Chinese currency was subsidizing exports of that product, so a tariff of 122.5 percent should be imposed. Twist-tie producer Bedford Industries in Worthington, Minnesota had filed a petition. They claimed the amount of imported  twist-ties was $6.4 million in 2017, $6.89 million in 2018, and $4.15 million in 2019.

 

How much did twist ties contribute to the U.S. trade deficit with China in 2019? According to another article by Lucia Mutikani at Reuters on February 5, 2020 it was $345,600 million. 4.15 million divided by 345,600 million is 0.000012 or just 0.0012 percent.

 

There are two articles by Josh Zumbrum at the Wall Street Journal, one on October 11, 2020 titled U. S. China trade war gets wrapped up in twist-ties, and a second on November 25, 2020 titled U. S. puts tariffs on Chinese twist-ties.

 

What is missing here?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday Randall Munroe published an xkxd web cartoon (shown above) titled Contiguous 41 States. Most Americans immediately will say that’s wrong, there should be 48 of them. But the map superficially seems ok, and it’s surprisingly hard to tell what he left off. Actually he skipped the entire column with North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas. He also slid over the adjacent states to eliminate Delaware, New Mexico and Pennsylvania.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see what he did by comparing with the correct map shown above. Or you could cheat and look the cartoon up at Explain xkcd.

   

An article with a confusing opening paragraph

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At The Ladders on December 2, 2020 there is an article by Sarah Dillon titled Harvard has the ultimate public speaking tip that you’ve never heard of. It opens with the following superfluous and confusing paragraph:

 

“Public speaking is statistically America’s number one phobia – second only to creepy bugs and frightening heights. I never imagined giving a presentation in front of your boss would be scarier than the potential of plummeting 10 stories to your death, but here we are.”

 

As shown above, it is hard to tell whether public speaking should be ranked first, second, or third.

 

Sarah’s article then discusses the article by Amit Goldberg and Erika Weisz at the Harvard Business Review on November 30, 2020 titled Don’t focus on the most expressive face in the audience. If you really want to understand that article, read their preprint rather than Sarah’s description of it.

  

Overstepping your authority

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the Idaho Freedom Foundation on November 27, 2020 there is an article by Wayne Hoffman titled Idaho lawmakers must cut taxpayer support for left-leaning public radio. His article title displays a ridiculous level of arrogance toward lawmakers – ordering (must) rather than suggesting (should) how they act. Wayne is upset about Boise State Public Radio, who only get 15% of their support from the state while the rest comes from members.   

 

If he wanted to further alarm us, Wayne also could have said that over twenty percent of their content comes from a service supported by a foreign government. From 11:00 PM to 4:00 AM they carry the BBC World Service.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Normally we would have expected Wayne to whine that our majority Republican state government should not support public radio because it is highly unpopular with the listening public. But based on the last ratings for Boise (shown above in a bar chart) that simply is not true. Boise State Public Radio news was third in the Top Twenty and just behind another news station, KBOI-AM. They are ahead of KIDO-AM, who carries Fox News and tied for seventh. And the other Boise State Public Radio station, which carries classical music tied for eleventh.   

 

The image was adapted from a Watch Your Step poster at Wikimedia Commons.

 

A million times too large

 Some people think about numbers in surprising ways. Back on March 6, 2020 on an MSNBC broadcast Brian Williams aired a tweet about how much money Mike Bloomberg had spent on the Democratic primary ($500 million). It said that since there were 327 million people in the country he could have given each person over $ 1 million.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At PolitiFact Bill McCarthy wrote about that in an article titled Bad math at MSNBC: Bloomberg’s ad spending wasn’t enough to give every American $1 million. As shown above, it really was just $1.53 per person, since the factor of a million cancels out. A YouTube video by Matt Parker at Stand-up Maths on March 24, 2020 titled Why do people keep getting this wrong? discusses how apparently folks are thinking of the Million as a unit rather than just part of a number. So, they do the division as 500/327 and then put the Millions back on. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I never had that problem since back in high school. When I took chemistry, we learned to do math on a slide rule. The C and D scales were logarithmic and ran from one to ten (as shown above and explained in the Wikipedia article for Logarithm). You had to keep track of the exponent separately. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, you had to make sure the units were consistent, so figuring out a how many seconds are in a day involved the factor label method shown above. Factor label is a form of Dimensional Analysis.

 

 An image of a sliderule came from Pearson Scott Foresman at Wikimedia Commons.