Interesting Video below.

The premise of the video is that consumerism is not a product of consumer demand. Rather, it is caused by overproduction by manufacturing. A manufacturer invests a lot of money into a production process. They will have borrowed to do this. So to recoup costs and make money it is necessary to continually make product. And when production exceeds demand, use marketing techniques to create false needs.

Marketing adds attributes to a product; status, group identify, emotions etc. This causes emotional dependence on shopping and acquisition of unnecessary things. Leading to money problems like debt, excessive lending etc. This started in the post war era and brings us to today, with our debt, energy crisis and pollution.

A lot of the ideas tie in with the history of the 20th century explained in “The Century of the Self”.

They do seem to miss an obvious solution. If overproduction and the need for creating demand is the problem, then manufacturing on demand would be a fix. This exists for books and specialty items. Expanding this to apparel would seem obvious.

Of course there would be a lot of things where demand is predictable and supply can be designed to match. Things like basic groceries; milk, bread and butter etc.

Company Share Flats/Apartments are a new ownership structure I though of, then found was a real thing.

Instead of taking title to the property, you are purchasing shares in a company. The company owns the property and as a shareholder you are granted rights to live there.

The building is managed by the directors of the company, being a number of the owners.  All owners are shareholders in the company.

The company will have its own constitution which outlines the rights and obligations of shareholder occupants.

Shareholders pay operating expenses to the company. These can include rates, insurance, maintenance and operating costs.

I can see the advantages of this.

1. There could be a low threshold for buying in. Then, through an occupier agreement, the occupant agrees to purchase shares at a predetermined rate up to their proportion of the company.  For example if the development was worth $1million and there were 10 units, each person could buy up to $100,000 of equity.
2.  The individual insurance could be lower, due to the scale of the development.
3. Lots of the multiple things required in individual titles (meters, rubbish bins etc.) could be eliminated.
4. The cost of moving could be reduced or eliminated. The occupant would simply swap shares for money with the company and move out.
5. It would eliminate the need for Banks, Lawyers, Real Estate Agents, Valuers and Investors looking for a quick return.

Possible Disadvantages

1. It would involve an occupation agreement similar to a unit title development that could be more onerous. Eg. No pets, naked flames, renting etc.
2. Would probably need an interview with the directors to get in.
3. Possibly more risk, as it would be regulated by the Companies Act, not Banking regulations.
4. The developer would have to take on a longer return period. Possibly 10-20 years instead of the immediate return when selling as individual titles.

References:

Joan of Arc is the second campaign in Age of Empires II.

She appears as her own civilization in Age of Empires IV: The Sultans Ascend, in which she is also the hero.

Across six episodes, the games goes from fun to frustrating.

The final, “A Prefect Martyr” occurs after her death, and has the heroes trying to erect a flag in Paris.

The problems occur quickly, with a constant flow of enemy attacks as you try to establish your base. Despite several re-starts I ended up using cheat codes to get to the end. Fortunately that doesn’t stop you moving on the the next campaign.

William Wallace is the first and tutorial campaign in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. His campaign serves as an introduction for new players.

William Wallace
(c. 1270 – August 23, 1305)

This Scottish Knight led an army of Scots in an attempt to keep Scotland a kingdom independent from King Edward I of England.

After defeating an English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in September 1297. He was appointed Guardian of Scotland and served until his defeat at the Battle of Falkirk in July 1298.

In August 1305, Wallace was captured in Robroyston, near Glasgow, and handed over to King Edward I of England, who had him hanged, drawn and quartered for high treason and crimes against English civilians. Since his death, Wallace has obtained a legendary status far beyond his homeland.

This first series of of seven games proved to be relatively fun and easy. The memory of previously playing the game came back.

In 1791 and the Doctor and Rose get to meet one of the most enigmatic, person in history: The Chevalier d’Eon.

She used to be known as a spy, but then she used to be known as a lot of things. Now she is a slave trader.

Guy Adams has written a fun short audio play that relies on an extravagant enemy.  The cast delivers, wit, slavery and the possibly of destroying life on earth.

More evidence that measuring GDP is like polishing a turd:

From RNZ Media-watch 12 Nov:

A leading business lobby group is urging us to emulate Ireland, which had a GDP the same size as ours 30 years ago, but now has a GDP twice as big.

On his site Politik, veteran political journalist Richard Harman said National would “have to tread between two very different views of how to grow New Zealand’s economy”.

Harman said one set of figures stood out in the report: In 1990, New Zealand GDP per head was just under $US15,000 – slightly ahead of Ireland’s. By last year, Ireland’s had jumped to $US127,000, but ours was only $US52,000.

“The Emerald Isle leapt forward, leaving the Land of the Long White Cloud in its wake. Ireland now sits just below the US at sixth while New Zealand languishes at 20th,” NZ Initiative chair Roger Partridge wrote in the New Zealand Herald on their return, about what he called “prosperity’s most meaningful measure” – GDP per capita.

However on the Irish Examiner
www.irishexaminer.com

Ireland’s reliance on large multinational intellectual property has resulted in GDP for 2022 exceeding the EU average by over 130%.

Preliminary figures released by statistics agency, Eurostat reported Ireland as having the second-highest GDP in the EU last year, which, along with Luxembourg has far outpaced all other EU countries.

The high level of GDP per capita in Ireland can be partly explained by the presence of large multinational companies holding intellectual property,” according to Eurostat findings.

Multinationals including Apple, Facebook, Pfizer, and Google, among others alone accounted for almost 56% of the so-called total value added to the economy, up from 53% in 2021, the CSO said. Sectors dominated by multinationals, including information and communications, expanded greatly.

Not sure where I heard this story from Feynman

It could have been in Joseph Campbells ‘Power of Myth’ Series, or in a Feynman Documentary:

I have a friend who’s an artist and has sometimes taken a view which I don’t agree with very well.

He’ll hold up a flower and say “look how beautiful it is,” and I’ll agree. Then he says “I as an artist can see how beautiful this is but you as a scientist take this all apart and it becomes a dull thing,” and I think that he’s kind of nutty. First of all, the beauty that he sees is available to other people and to me too, I believe.

Although I may not be quite as refined aesthetically as he is . I can appreciate the beauty of a flower. At the same time, I see much more about the flower than he sees.

I could imagine the cells in there, the complicated actions inside, which also have a beauty. I mean it’s not just beauty at this dimension, at one centimeter; there’s also beauty at smaller dimensions, the inner structure, also the processes.

The fact that the colors in the flower evolved in order to attract insects to pollinate it is interesting; it means that insects can see the color.

It adds a question: does this aesthetic sense also exist in the lower forms? Why is it aesthetic? All kinds of interesting questions which the science knowledge only adds to the excitement, the mystery and the awe of a flower. It only adds.

I don’t understand how it subtracts.”

At last, the term for what we all know.

Anchoring bias is a where an individual’s decisions are influenced by a particular reference point or ‘anchor’.

For example, an individual may be more likely to purchase a car if it is placed alongside a more expensive model (the anchor). Prices discussed in negotiations that are lower than the anchor may seem reasonable, perhaps even cheap to the buyer, even if said prices are still relatively higher than the actual market value of the car.

Another example may be when estimating the orbit of Mars, one might start with the Earth’s orbit (365 days) and then adjust upward until they reach a value that seems reasonable (usually less than 687 days, the correct answer).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQI4VXgVGrc

This is a journalism term recently encountered. It’s a deliberate attempt by the author to mislead the reader into mis-interpreting something.

For example, “Violinist linked to JAL crash blossoms”.

The author’s intended interpretation is that the violinist who blossoms was linked to a plane crash (by her father having been on the plane). However, the sentence can also be interpreted to mean that the violinist was linked to something called a “crash blossom”.

Other Examples:

Dutch military plane carrying bodies from Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash lands in Eindhoven.

Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim

Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge.

And More

Originally heard on the TV Show ‘Press’ (previous post).

Reverse ferret is a phrase used predominantly within the British media to describe a sudden reversal in an organization’s editorial or political line on a certain issue. Generally, this will involve no acknowledgement of the previous position.

The term originates from Kelvin MacKenzie’s time at The Sun. His preferred description of the role of journalists when it came to public figures was to “stick a ferret up their trousers”.

This meant making their lives uncomfortable, and was based on the supposed Northern England stunt of ferret-legging (where contestants compete to show who can endure a live ferret within their sealed trousers the longest).

However, when it became clear that the tide of public opinion had turned against the paper’s line, MacKenzie would burst from his office shouting “Reverse ferret!”