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Seawriter is a former Shuttle software engineer who successfully made the transition to the oil and gas industry as a technical writer after the end of the Shuttle program. It is not the first career
Seawriter is a former Shuttle software engineer who successfully made the transition to the oil and gas industry as a technical writer after the end of the Shuttle program. It is not the first career
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. – Calvin Coolidge
Coolidge is the intellectual patron of Ricochet. Statements like this are one reason why.
“…most important was the insight, key insight that Adam Smith had – brilliant insight – that wealth is not zero-sum, that you can make more of practically everything that’s important.
He understood this even while he was still living in a largely agricultural economy. He realized that because somebody is rich, that’s not what makes other people poor. Wealth is not a pizza where, if I have too many slices, you have to eat the Dominos box. My wealth does not create your poverty. Your wealth does not create my poverty. They’re separate questions. And we can generate more wealth.“
Seawriter is a former Shuttle software engineer who successfully made the transition to the oil and gas industry as a technical writer after the end of the Shuttle program. It is not the first career
“Where do we get such men? They leave this ship and they do their job. Then they must find this speck lost somewhere on the sea. When the find it they have to land on its pitching deck. Where do we get such men?” — RAdm. George Tarrant in The Bridges at Toko Ri, James Michener
The Bridge at Toko Ri was a novella Michener wrote in 1953. at the end of the Korean War. Set during that war, one of its themes was the question of whether the generation that became adults after World War II had the intestinal fortitude to stand up to the challenges of those times. Some felt that this new generation lacked the courage, the endurance, and the determination of the men who had fought World War II. They were weak and would fail, those people thought.
Seawriter is a former Shuttle software engineer who successfully made the transition to the oil and gas industry as a technical writer after the end of the Shuttle program. It is not the first career
“Have we reached the ultimate stage of absurdity where some people are held responsible for things that happened before they were born, while other people are not held responsible for what they themselves are doing today?” – Thomas Sowell
We sure have. After all, San Fran Nan didn’t do anything wrong by violating California’s COVID lockdown rules. She was set up. That excuses everything. Meanwhile, I am supposed to feel guilty about black slavery that ended decades before my grandparents arrived in the United States from Greece.
Seawriter is a former Shuttle software engineer who successfully made the transition to the oil and gas industry as a technical writer after the end of the Shuttle program. It is not the first career
Seawriter is a former Shuttle software engineer who successfully made the transition to the oil and gas industry as a technical writer after the end of the Shuttle program. It is not the first career
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I grew up in the 50s in the blue-collar city of Compton, California, just before it turned dangerous. I spent my youth in pool halls and bowling alleys. I had no interest in school. To make money, I delivered newspapers, set pins in the bowling alley, kept score, and even shined shoes in dive bars on Compton Boulevard. I was drafted into the Army in 1958 and spent 18 months in Germany, where I started thinking hard about what I wanted to do with my life. So I returned to Compton Junior College f… [more]
I lost this post in the ether for awhile. I’m hoping it goes back to the Main Feed where it was when it disappeared. But it’s probably going back to the Members’ Feed. If you’ve already seen it, just skip over it. Sorry.
Has there ever been a more perfect expression of hippy-dippy, utopian thinking than John Lennon’s Imagine?
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The New York Times, aka the DNC Times, calls Kamala Harris a “pragmatic moderate.” As Senator, she had the most left-wing voting record in a Senate that includes the Marxist Bernie Sanders.
The reality is Kamala Harris is a progressive opportunist. From Debra Saunders:
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Seawriter is a former Shuttle software engineer who successfully made the transition to the oil and gas industry as a technical writer after the end of the Shuttle program. It is not the first career
“I know there are people who do not love their fellow man, and I hate people like that.” – Tom Lehrer
Tom Lehrer spoke these words ironically, as a joke. Yet it has become a progressive mantra in the last few years. Some businesses post signs saying words to the effect that they love everyone – haters stay out. Progressives post signs on their lawns proclaiming “Love Trumps Hate,” while hating Trump and anyone who does not actively hate Trump. They claim saying “all lives matter” is racist, without attempting to explain logically how that can be true. They say “love is the answer” while slamming the door in the face of anyone who might point out that is not necessarily always true.
Seawriter is a former Shuttle software engineer who successfully made the transition to the oil and gas industry as a technical writer after the end of the Shuttle program. It is not the first career
“Weighing benefits against costs is the way most people make decisions – and the way most businesses make decisions, if they want to stay in business. Only in government is any benefit, however small, considered to be worth any cost, however large.” – Thomas Sowell
As a nod towards Dr. Bastiat (@drbastiat) and his post “A Brief Excursion into Hero Worship,” I thought it fitting to provide some Sowell food with today’s quote of the day. Rummaging through my collection of unused Thomas Sowell quotes, I decided this one best fits the events of 2020, since so many are driven by the government’s pursuit of benefits at whatever cost, however large.
Seawriter is a former Shuttle software engineer who successfully made the transition to the oil and gas industry as a technical writer after the end of the Shuttle program. It is not the first career
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.” – Thomas Paine, The American Crisis
I have two questions for everyone who is sure that Donald Trump will lose this November:
“Of course leftists hate Christianity. Leftism was created in mockery of Christianity as Orcs were created in mockery of the Elves.” — Prof. Glenn “Instapundit” Reynolds
I’ve lost count of the times I’ve heard Leftism compared to a religion. It’s a fairly common reference, and the evidence is common to see. Obviously, Leftist revolutions tended to create cults of personality, Stalin and Mao most notably. There’s also a long train of martyrs to the Left, from Revolutionary France until now. Surprisingly, many Christians don’t seem to have gotten the message — consider the Social Gospel and the Liberation Theology movement — but the hostility always resurfaces.
Seawriter is a former Shuttle software engineer who successfully made the transition to the oil and gas industry as a technical writer after the end of the Shuttle program. It is not the first career
“You can have peace or you can have freedom. You cannot get both at once.” – Robert Heinlein
Robert Heinlein made this comment during his speech at the 1976 MidAmeriCon World Science Fiction Convention, where he was guest of honor (skip to 7:40 to avoid a dull introduction). Heinlein was a cold warrior; he was a warrior, period. He understood freedom was not free, and the tree of liberty had to be renewed with the blood of patriots and tyrants. During his life, he saw the US struggle against four tyrannies: Imperial Germany, Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and the Soviet Union. He died before the ultimate victory against the Soviet Union, but he understood the only way to overcome tyranny was to fight it.
Seawriter is a former Shuttle software engineer who successfully made the transition to the oil and gas industry as a technical writer after the end of the Shuttle program. It is not the first career
“With a law such as this, enforced only against the poor or honest man and violated with impunity by every rich scoundrel and every corrupt politician , the machine did indeed seem to have its yoke on the neck of the people.” — Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt made this statement during a speech while he was president of New York City’s police commission during the 1890s. He was speaking about a law forbidding the sale of alcoholic drinks on Sundays. Prior to his tenure, it had been largely ignored. But it was ignored at a price. Saloon keepers and bar owners paid off local officials. Not just with money, but with political support. The only time the law was enforced was against political opponents of those in office or those too honest to pay bribes.
Richard Buckminster Fuller would have been 125 years old today. Many know of his works, such as Dymaxion Map, Dymaxion House, or Dymaxion Car, or in promoting the geodesic dome.
Seawriter is a former Shuttle software engineer who successfully made the transition to the oil and gas industry as a technical writer after the end of the Shuttle program. It is not the first career
“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” – Voltaire
This has never been more true than this summer. We are forced to pretend COVID is deadly, that all lives do not matter, that those that founded this country – a country based on principles of equality and liberty – are scum, but that dictators and mass murderers like Mao, Lenin, and Castro are saints.
I lost this post in the ether for awhile. I’m hoping it goes back to the Main Feed where it was when it disappeared. But it’s probably going back to the Members’ Feed. If you’ve already seen it, just skip over it. Sorry.
“A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.” – George S. Patton
