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    • Jan 27, 2019
    • 9 min read

#3 January 2019/Buddha's Aunt/Capitalism Looking at You/Book hoarder/Mondegreens

Hello,

I'll have an economic report out later this week along with an agenda of the next council meet. One of the things on the agenda will be a possible reposting of the visitor center supervisor position. I think this is an opportune time to evaluate the entire tourism operation of the City.  I hope to have some comments about that also.The original post describing the job on the city website was poorly written,  and did not accurately reflect the work that is done. Briefly, it seems to me that the department that brings in the most direct and indirect revenue and is the 'face' if Bisbee to the world should be upgraded with a salary and support commensurate with the economic importance.  I hope you read the article about surveillance capitalism below. It is something that needs to be understood.  fred @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ BISBEE EVENT!

The Bisbee Science Exploration and Research Center (BSERC) will be celebrating the grand opening of its Bisbee Science Lab on February 1st from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.  Lots of  hands-on activities and experiences planned for kids and adults including two virtual reality stations.  24 Main Street

From 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. on the 1st, a grand opening with a ribbon cutting, food and beverage, and an opportunity to participate in the making of a video/documentary about what science and the BSERC Science Lab mean to you.  Don’t miss this official kick-off to the region’s newest STEAM adventure.

On February 2nd from 2 until 4 p.m. the first in a series of Science Cafés is hosted by BSERC and the Bisbee Science Lab.   Dr. Ben Wilder will discuss The Next Generation of Desert Research at the Bisbee Royale.  Tickets are a must for this limited-seating event.  Food and beverage will be available for sale by the Royale. You can learn more about Dr. Wilder at our website www.bisbeesciencelab.org and get your free tickets at this link: February 2nd Science Cafe Tickets - free here.


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THESBIANS! AUDITIONS! LIVE THEATER!Actors and wannabes 20 years of age & older.WHO: Theater on the MovePLACE: Central School Project, Bisbee - 43 Howell StreetDATES: 31 Jan & 1 Feb @ 6 pm; 3 Feb @ 2 pm. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

WOMEN ON THE MOVE Sunday Jan.20 marked the third anniversary of the Women's March. A seminal event that led to an historic number of women elected to national, state, regional, and local offices the past year. The power of women to be heard and act, on their own terms, has been a catalyst( As well as a rude awakening for some men) for new political formations as well as cultural and business upheavals that have reverberated throughout all regions in the United States. . There were several marches around the country in addition to DC.  But women been marching through history as noted below.  .................. THE BUDDHA'S AUNT LED THE FIRST WOMEN'S MARCH IN 600 BC

As this article shows, women were on the road a long time ago demanding and getting rightful recognition of equality https://qz.com/1520267/the-buddhas-aunt-led-the-first-womens-rights-march-in-recorded-history/

................ POLITICS

SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM

There aren't a lot of books that break new ground describing the development of Capitalism. One such, In 1974 written by Harry Braverman a working class intellectual, was Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century.It was an explanation and examination of the work processes as well as a forecasting  of why large companies would increasingly outsource jobs overseas in order to extract more capital from workers.  (the division of labor) A more recent book in 2013 that examined the accumulation of capital and the growth of inequality was Capital in the Twenty-First Century, by Thomas Piketty. (the concentration of Capital) And now a seminal work from Shoshanna Suboff titled The Age of Surveillance Capital describes another evolutionary phase of Capitalism (the division of learning)   If you can't read the 600 page book, check out the article that describes this development. There are those of us who intensely dislike big Capitalism, but admire some innovative sustainable aspects of small capitalism; who abhor the elasticity of Capitalism to absorb and make money from anything; resistance, revolution, relationships, depravity and violence to name a few. I and others have followed the development of the dominant economic system some time trying to figure out what news ways are being developed to fuck us over. This book details not the end of capitalism but the processes of collection of our personal data in order to to predict our activities and consumption.  For those of us who have felt substantive unease about the privatization of personal information even though we keep using google, facebook, amazon etc. this is a must read. It puts flesh on the bones of our discontent.  "Surveillance capitalists were the first movers in this new world. They declared their right to know, to decide who knows, and to decide who decides. In this way they have come to dominate what I call “the division of learning in society”, which is now the central organizing principle of the 21st-century social order, just as the division of labour was the key organizing principle of society in the industrial age."

"Surveillance capitalism is no more limited to advertising than mass production was limited to the fabrication of the Ford Model T. It quickly became the default model for capital accumulation in Silicon Valley, embraced by nearly every startup and app. And it was a Google executive – Sheryl Sandberg – who played the role of Typhoid Mary, bringing surveillance capitalism from Google to Facebook, when she signed on as Mark Zuckerberg’s number two in 2008. By now it’s no longer restricted to individual companies or even to the internet sector. It has spread across a wide range of products, services, and economic sectors, including insurance, retail, healthcare, finance, entertainment, education, transportation, and more, birthing whole new ecosystems of suppliers, producers, customers, market-makers, and market players. Nearly every product or service that begins with the word “smart” or “personalised”, every internet-enabled device, every “digital assistant”, is simply a supply-chain interface for the unobstructed flow of behavioural data on its way to predicting our futures in a surveillance economy."

"We are trapped in an involuntary merger of personal necessity and economic extraction, as the same channels that we rely upon for daily logistics, social interaction, work, education, healthcare, access to products and services, and much more, now double as supply chain operations for surveillance capitalism’s surplus flows. The result is that the choice mechanisms we have traditionally associated with the private realm are eroded or vitiated. There can be no exit from processes that are intentionally designed to bypass individual awareness and produce ignorance, especially when these are the very same processes upon which we must depend for effective daily life. So our participation is best explained in terms of necessity, dependency, the foreclosure of alternatives, and enforced ignorance." https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jan/20/shoshana-zuboff-age-of-surveillance-capitalism-google-facebook?utm_term=RWRpdG9yaWFsX0d1YXJkaWFuVG9kYXlVUy0xOTAxMjI%3D&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUS&CMP=GTUS_email @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT IN ARIZONA GOVERNMENTYou can sign up to 'speak' from your house about various bills that are being considered in the legislature. An important way to help participate in the sausage making known as legislation. From the folks at Save our Schools. 

Request to Speak (RTS) is an online tool that allows Arizonans to voice their opinions on bills. It’s an easy way to get involved in state politics and stay informed on the bills that directly affect our public schools. Once you are signed up, you can be an “armchair education activist” and weigh in on bills right from your couch. You do not actually have to speak as the name implies, or even be present at the Capitol. Using RTS empowers everyday citizens to make sure our elected officials hear the voices of their constituents.

What do I need to do to sign up? SIgn up here, and a “runner” from a fantastic, non-partisan group Civic Engagement Beyond Voting will go down to the Capitol for you and register your name and email in the system (this part has to be done in person). They will then email you instructions for logging in at home. It’s that simple.


.............. RESOURCES

TSUNDOKU...R U? ...an unread book hoarder An excellent word and I am Guilty, kind of. This article is a bit much, but if you like reading, his point is to make it a priority in your life. He suggests some rules-some extreme and for me impractical-but it is always worthwhile to examine habitual behavior and perhaps changing a bit. 

"If you’re reading this now, I’m assuming you really like to read books, but somehow just don’t get around to it. And whether your annual book count falls closer to 4 or 400, you’d like to increase it. This article will help you do that....Once you make this shift, from reading only when all the other important stuff is done, to reading being the important stuff, from giving it the dregs of your time to making it your prime-time activity, everything changes"


"This nice article in the “Self Development Secrets” blog provides a very readable overview of the health benefits of reading. One of many key grafs: “...reading is better at reducing stress levels than listening to music or drinking a cup of tea. The theory behind this is that reading absorbs the mind in a different world that allows people to escape their anxiety. Reading a newspaper might not have the same effect though because many stories can add further stress.”" @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ FREE MOOCS! (massive open online courses) https://www.class-central.com/list/2018-s-most-popular-free-online-courses- @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ MOST UNBIASED NEWS SOURCESCheck these many outlets out for more factual news.  https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/center/ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@A RATING SERVICE FOR A NEWS ORGANIZATION TRUTHINESShttps://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/16/business/media/media-steve-brill-fake-news.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Business @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ FAKE POST IN DC, PRIMER FOR A WAY FORWARDHeadline...“UNPRESIDENTED: TRUMP HASTILY DEPARTS WHITE HOUSE, ENDING CRISIS.”https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-fake-washington-post-and-the-future-americans-would-like-to-see?

.................. ECONOMY

BIG JOB CUTS FOR ONLINE NEWS AGGREGATORS https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/jan/24/as-huffpost-and-buzzfeed-shed-staff-has-the-digital-content-bubble-burst?utm_term=RWRpdG9yaWFsX0d1YXJkaWFuVG9kYXlVUy0xOTAxMjU%3D&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUS&CMP=GTUS_email @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ NUMBER OF MANUFACTURING JOBS SAME AS 1949Careful reading of this article shows that although the number of jobs are similar 70 years ago, the percentage of people working in manufacturing has dropped from 30% to 8.5%, excluding agriculture.  Population has more than doubled 149 million peeps in 1949, 328 million in 2018.  "The 32,000 positions added in December took the total number of positions in manufacturing to 12.84 million. In November 1949, there were 12.88 million manufacturing workers, at the end of a sharp recession."https://www.marketwatch.com/story/manufacturing-employment-in-the-us-is-at-the-same-level-of-69-years-ago-2019-01-04 @@@@@@@@@@@@@ AZ CRAFT BEER BOOMINGhttps://azbigmedia.com/emerging-craft-beer-scene-boosts-arizona-economy/ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ THE DAWN OF INSIGHT BY MACHINE LEARNINGA provocative exploration of what it means for the future of humans when a machine developed insight  to easily become the best chess player ever.  "It clearly displays a breed of intellect that humans have not seen before, and that we will be mulling over for a long time to come."   And...  "As machines become ever faster, and humans stay put with their neurons running at sluggish millisecond time scales, another day will follow when we can no longer keep up." https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/26/science/chess-artificial-intelligence.html?emc=edit_tu_20181228&nl=bits&nlid=5573669420181228&te=1

................................. EVERYTHING ELSE

FORE!

As golf courses across the country decline, one of the biggest losers are homeowners who purchased homes overlooking golf courses. An analysis of listings found that homes that mentioned “golf” in their description were on the market for 75 days, 14 percent higher than the median for their counties and 27 percent higher than all listings. Over 200 golf courses closed in 2017, while only about 15 new ones opened. When a course closes, prices for the homes nearby fall about 25 percent, and if a lawsuit gets involved prices can drop by half. There are about 3,800 private golf clubs and about 1,200 have homes within their gates, about 950 of which were built between 1970 and 2010. While 30 million people played 500 million rounds of golf in 2001, only 24 million people played 450 million rounds in 2017. For golf stakeholders, the above paragraph is the closest you’re going to get to the invisible hand of the free market screaming “Fore!” as a painful impact gets closer and closer.

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Mindless but difficult; the thumb/pinkie interchangehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NIrpR8pEjs&utm_medium=email&utm_source=other&utm_campaign=opencourse.GdeNrll1EeSROyIACtiVvg.announcements%7Eopencourse.GdeNrll1EeSROyIACtiVvg.97ItuwUsEemNsgqSGaU9BA @@@@@@@@@@ MONDEGREENS  Mondegreens are misheard words. Most commonly in songs. My own prime example:  "Junkies in love""Chuck E's in love"Ricki Lee Jones Some others  ·  "Excuse me while I kiss this guy."    "Excuse me while I kiss the sky."    Purple Haze, Jimi Hendrix

·  "Gladly, the cross-eyed bear."    "Gladly The Cross I'd Bear."    Traditional Hymn

·  "There's a bathroom on the right."    "There's a bad moon on the rise."    Bad Moon Rising, Creedence Clearwater

·  "Dead ants are my friends; they're blowin' in the wind."    "The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind."    Blowin' In The Wind, Bob Dylan

·  "Midnight after you're wasted."    "Midnight at the oasis."    Midnight at the Oasis, Maria Muldaur

·  "The girl with colitis goes by."    "The girl with kaleidoscope eyes."    Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, The Beatles

·  "Sleep in heavenly peas."    "Sleep in heavenly peace."    Silent Night, Christmas carol

·  "She's got a chicken to ride."    "She's got a ticket to ride."    Ticket to Ride, The Beatles

·  "You and me and Leslie."    "You and me endlessly..."    Groovin', The Rascals

·  "I'll be your xylophone waiting for you."    "I'll be beside the phone waiting for you."    Build Me Up Buttercup, The Foundations

·  "Are you going to starve an old friend?"    "Are you going to Scarborough Fair?"    Scarborough Fair, Simon and Garfunkel

·  "Baking carrot biscuits."    "Taking care of business."    Takin' Care Of Business, Bachman-Turner Overdrive

·  "Donuts make my brown eyes blue."    "Don't it make my brown eyes blue."    Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue, Crystal Gale

·  "Got a lot of lucky peanuts."    "Got a lot of love between us."    Let's Hang On. Frankie Vallee and the Four Seasons

·  "What a nice surprise when you're out of ice."    "What a nice surprise bring your alibis."    Hotel California, Eagles

·  "Hope the city voted for you."    "Hopelessly devoted to you."    Hopelessly Devoted to You, Grease

·  "I'm a pool hall ace."    "My poor heart aches."    Every Step You Take, The Police

·  "Just brush my teeth before you leave me, baby."    "Just touch my cheek before you leave me, baby."    Angel of the Morning, Juice Newton

  ######################FM#####################  

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