Category: Uncategorized

The corruption of the Church

Dostoevsky understood that when the Church becomes the State, it ceases to be the Church, as he described in The Brothers Karamazov:

In many cases there are no churches there at all, for though ecclesiastics and splendid church buildings remain, the churches themselves have long ago striven to pass from Church into State and to disappear in it completely. So it seems at least in Lutheran countries. As for Rome, it was proclaimed a State instead of a Church a thousand years ago.

The State Churches of Great Britain, Norway, and Sweden bear testimony to this perspective. Temporal power has always been the great temptation of the Christian, as it was of Jesus Christ himself.

The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.  “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” 

Of course, Dostoevsky very well understood that others accepted the offer that Jesus Christ rejected.

All that I can say is known to Thee already. And is it for me to conceal from Thee our mystery? Perhaps it is Thy will to hear it from my lips. Listen, then. We are not working with Thee, but with him–that is our mystery. It’s long–eight centuries–since we have been on his side and not on Thine. Just eight centuries ago, we took from him what Thou didst reject with scorn, that last gift he offered Thee, showing Thee all the kingdoms of the earth. We took from him Rome and the sword of Cæsar, and proclaimed ourselves sole rulers of the earth, though hitherto we have not been able to complete our work. But whose fault is that? Oh, the work is only beginning, but it has begun. It has long to await completion and the earth has yet much to suffer, but we shall triumph and shall be Cæsars, and then we shall plan the universal happiness of man.

Beware those who preach the unity of Man and the healing of the world. Those who do have taken the Grand Ticket.

Mailvox: a suggested devotional

Our suggested devotional for Lent is by John Piper. What an absolute trainwreck. He starts by making sure that everyone knows that Jesus death was through Divine determination before creation and who killed him is irrelevant as he chose to die. But then turns around and scolds Christians for the Holocaust and the Crusades.

If it’s all decreed without human choice being involved then all of it, including the aforementioned, was just as decreed as every other atom. 

What a joke. 

It’s always easy to detect the inversionists. They cannot tell the truth because, knowingly or not, they serve the Father of Lies. Piper’s words directly belie the words of Jesus Christ himself. That tells you everything you need to know about the man and his teachings.

A reckoning is here

I don’t think the tech startup observers fully understand just how deflating the next stage is going to be:

Now the layoffs have started coming in droves. Last month, robot pizza startup Zume and car-sharing company Getaround slashed more than 500 jobs. Then DNA testing company 23andMe, logistics startup Flexport, Firefox maker Mozilla and question-and-answer website Quora did their own cuts.

“It feels like a reckoning is here,” said Josh Wolfe, a venture capitalist at Lux Capital in New York.

It’s a humbling shift for an industry that long saw itself as an engine of job creation and innovation, producing ride-hailing giant Uber, hospitality company Airbnb and other now well-known brands that often disrupted entrenched industries.

Their rise was propelled by a wave of investor money — about $763 billion washed into startups in the United States over the past decade — that also fueled the growth of young companies in delivery, cannabis, real estate and direct-to-consumer goods. Unlike low-cost software startups, these private companies frequently took on old-line competitors by spending heavily on physical assets and workers while losing money.

Now a pullback is unfolding in precisely the areas that drew the most hype.

Around the world, more than 30 startups have slashed more than 8,000 jobs over the past four months, according to a tally by The New York Times. Investments in young companies have fallen, with 2,215 startups raising money in the United States in the last three months of 2019, the fewest since late 2016, according to the National Venture Capital Association and PitchBook, which track startups.

And those are not the only signs of change. Casper Sleep, which billed itself as the “Nike of sleep” by selling mattresses online, flopped when it went public this month. Once-hot companies like Lime, the electric scooter provider, have pulled out of some cities. Others, like e-commerce startup Brandless, game app HQ Trivia and electronics maker Essential Products, are on the verge of shutting down.

There are now “frantic mini-moments of panic, as one thing after another happens,” said Roy Bahat, an investor at Bloomberg’s venture arm in San Francisco. “At some point, one rock after another will fall away from the cliff and we’ll realize we’re not standing on anything in many, many companies.”

Let’s just say at least one of  “the next billion dollar startups” won’t be….

Weinstein guilty

Now we’ll have to see what sort of wrist slap the judge attempts to give the evil creature instead of the 29-year maximum sentence possible. But these guilty verdicts should open the door to more Hollywood trials, so that’s a good thing.

Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty of third degree rape and a criminal sexual act in his high profile New York trial.

The disgraced Hollywood producer was convicted by a jury of sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006 and raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013.

He was found not guilty of the two most serious counts of predatory sexual assault and also first degree rape in relation to Mann.

And one needn’t feel sorry for the quasi-hookers who are obviously more than willing to trade access to their bodies for roles to understand that it is necessary to shut down the Hollywood sin factory.

Hollywood finds itself on trial as well. The New York case exposed systemic harassment within parts of the industry — so much so that some people declined to be named in this piece, or even speak to me about the topic, for fear of retribution. Some who I reached out to implied that they had stories of ongoing harassment, but could not go any further than that and were unwilling to go on the record.

It is good when the wicked live in fear of judgment.

Negative coattails

Senate and Congressional Democrats are not eager to feel the Bern:

Former astronaut Mark Kelly, the Democratic Party’s hope for flipping a U.S. Senate seat in Arizona, tried to do no harm this month when he was asked about Sen. Bernie Sanders. “I will ultimately support who the nominee is of the Democratic Party,” he said.

That was enough for Kelly’s Republican rival, Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., who is trailing him in early polls, to go on the attack. The television spot she debuted days later spent nearly as much time talking about plans by the democratic socialist from Vermont to raise taxes and award new benefits to undocumented immigrants as it did about Kelly.

As Sanders, a political independent, builds what could eventually be an insurmountable delegate lead, many Democratic House and Senate candidates are approaching a dramatic shift in their campaigns, as they recalibrate to include praise of capitalism and distance themselves from the national party. Top campaign strategists from both major parties view Sanders’ success as a potentially tectonic event, which could narrow the party’s already slim hopes of retaking the Senate majority and fuel GOP dreams of reclaiming the House, which it lost amid a Democratic romp in 2018.

The Trumpslide is going to be epic!

Prepping for Corona-chan

Now that it is apparent that containment efforts, to the extent they were even made, have failed, it is perhaps worthwhile pointing out what the experts believe can improve your chances of making it through the next few months without excessive excitement:

  • Try to get ahead on medical prescriptions when you can, in case of very predictable supply chain disruptions, and so you won’t have to go out to the pharmacy at a time when there may be long lines of sick people. 
  • Start to stock up on enough non-perishable food to last your household through several weeks of social distancing at home during an intense wave of transmission in the community.
  • Take your kids out of school and activities. There is no need to freak anyone out; what kid doesn’t enjoy a snow day? Handle it right and they’ll be happily saying “thank you, Corona-chan!”
  • Cancel all unnecessary social engagements. As one friend said, it’s a good time to spend the evenings kicking back and having margaritas with your wife.
  • Get permission to work from home. Most businesses will embrace this and those who are most proactive about it will get permission first.
Let’s face it. This is an awesome opportunity to get a lot done without the usual distractions.

Schools closed in Northern Italy

Sospesi manifestazioni ed eventi. Scuole e musei e cinema chiusi

La Regione Lombardia sta predisponendo un’ordinanza, firmata dal presidente Attilio Fontana di concerto con il ministro della salute Roberto Speranza, valida per tutto il territorio lombardo. Il documento, non appena emanato, sarà trasmesso a tutti i prefetti delle Province lombarde per la tempestiva comunicazione ai sindaci. L’ordinanza sarà efficace fino a un nuovo provvedimento. Tra i provvedimenti previsti sono contemplati: la sospensione di manifestazioni o iniziative di qualsiasi natura, di eventi e di ogni forma di riunione in luogo pubblico o privato, anche di carattere culturale, ludico, sportivo e religioso, anche se svolti in luoghi chiusi aperti al pubblico; sospensione dei servizi educativi dell’infanzia e delle scuole di ogni ordine e grado, nonché della frequenza delle attività scolastiche e di formazione superiore, corsi professionali, master, corsi per le professioni sanitarie e università per gli anziani ad esclusione degli specializzandi e tirocinanti delle professioni sanitarie, salvo le attività formative svolte a distanza; sospensione dei servizi di apertura al pubblico dei musei e degli altri istituti e luoghi della cultura.

To put this into perspective, these actions by the presidents of Lombardy, Piedmont, Emilia Romagna, and the Veneto are the equivalent of about 15 US states shutting down their schools, universities, and all public and private events. Contrary to what some people seem to imagine, this isn’t bad news and it doesn’t mean that things are worse in Italy than elsewhere, but rather, demonstrates the willingness of the Italian regional governments to put the interests of the Italian people ahead of the global economy.

Violence is NEVER the answer

Unless you are a Wardog. Then violence is the first, only, and final answer. Join the Replatforming and get a) an ebook, b) an ebook and an audiobook, or c) an ebook, and audiobook and a paperback every single month.

And if you are a Replatformer, don’t forget to use your coupons and download your books before the end of the month.

Leaving Las Vegas a winner

Bernie Sanders wins another state:

Bernie Sanders has won the the Nevada Democratic caucuses, NBC News projects.

Sanders, coming off a strong showing in the Iowa caucuses and a narrow victory in the New Hampshire primary, rode a wave of support from young voters, liberal voters and Latinos to a runaway first-place finish in Saturday’s contest — strengthening his status as the front-runner. It remains too early to call second and third-place finishers.

With 4.2 percent of precincts in the state reporting, Sanders had 44.7 percent of the vote. Former Vice President Joe had 19.5 percent, while former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg had 15.6 percent and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., had 11.8 percent. Mike Bloomberg, who is surging in national polls but turned in a rocky debate performance in Las Vegas this week, is skipping the first four states and wasn’t on the ballot here.

The results that have come in so far allowed Sanders to take the lead in the overall pledged delegate count.

This means that Bloomberg’s money is now the only obstacle standing between Sanders and the Democratic nomination. The results:

  • 47{de336c7190f620554615b98f51c6a13b1cc922a472176e2638084251692035b3} Bernie Sanders
  • 19{de336c7190f620554615b98f51c6a13b1cc922a472176e2638084251692035b3} Joe Biden
  • 15{de336c7190f620554615b98f51c6a13b1cc922a472176e2638084251692035b3} Pete Buttigieg
  • 10{de336c7190f620554615b98f51c6a13b1cc922a472176e2638084251692035b3} Elizabeth Warren
  • 05{de336c7190f620554615b98f51c6a13b1cc922a472176e2638084251692035b3} Amy Klobuchar
  • 04{de336c7190f620554615b98f51c6a13b1cc922a472176e2638084251692035b3} Tom Steyer

Mailvox: no market for a game channel

An industry veteran explains why it doesn’t make sense for us to create a game review site and channel:

Hey Vox – There is a hole in the community, but it’s not a hole in the market. Because there’s no market for games journalism.

Games journalism traditionally offered three things:

  1. New information about games that ordinary people couldn’t get
  2. Credible reviews of games that could guide purchase
  3. In-depth features, interviews, and editorial
#1 collapsed for AAA games because the game companies now all employ large community management teams to communicate directly with their fans. They don’t need or want game journalists as gatekeepers. #2 collapsed for AAA games, too. The rise of review aggregator sites meant that gamers just visited the review aggregator rather than any particular reviewer. The pressure on game journalists to have access and ads made reviews less credible, teaching people to ignore journalist reviews and just look at user reviews. And the rise of Let’s Plays on Twitch made reviews irrelevant because you don’t need to read about how a game plays, you can watch it be played in real time with live commentary.
The result of these trends was that game journalists who wanted to do #1 and #2 had to turn to indie games. That’s how you get Zoe Quinn’s Depression Quest being something worth talking about. But nobody really cares about indie games outside of that small niche. If they did care, they wouldn’t be indy. So the journalists all ended up cramming into category #3 and focusing on features, interviews, and editorial.
But here they ran into a problem, too. If you try to do Rolling Stone type content, you discover that game publishers simply don’t let their game developers be rockstar/celebrity/talent the way other creative industry does. You’re simply never going to get to talk to a game designer and get real truths anymore. And if you do manage to talk to them, it turns out gamers don’t really care anyway, because it’s a participatory medium and they’d rather be playing. The only thing that gets traffic is outrage, so you trigger outrage. But if you trigger outrage about anything meaningful, you lose your ad dollars and what little access you have left. So it becomes all faux outrage all the time. Meanwhile, fewer and fewer readers and more and more people just watching YouTube and Twitch. 
Meanwhile, even if you say “yes, we’ll ignore all that and focus on great personalities who don’t worry about ads and make money from subscriptions”, then you run into problem #4. Gamers don’t want to spend money on content. They get outraged if a mobile game costs more than $2.99. They are furious about having to pay $60 for a game that gives them 60 hours of joy. They angrily rant about DLC. And even so, such money as they have, they do spend it all on games. They don’t spend it on subscriptions. And to the extent they do, it’s clustered into a tiny number of top streamers like Pewdie Pie. Then it becomes a dry well. To put it into perspective, a gaming site doing 60 million page views per month, with multiple million-view streams per week, earning $1M in ad sales, might earn perhaps 1{de336c7190f620554615b98f51c6a13b1cc922a472176e2638084251692035b3} of its revenue from subscriptions. .
Jeremy Hambly of The Quartering has been trying to make it work, with a new site; as has One Angry Gamer and a bunch of others. No one is having any major financial success. There’s a community, there’s just no market.