Tweets for April 2, 2016

Added on by C. Maoxian.

Chairman Recommended: Flip-Flops

Added on by C. Maoxian.

Many have wondered what semi-retired Appalachians wear on their feet, and the answer in my case is flip-flops by Teva, specifically the Mush II Canvas model. I have a pair for indoors and a pair for outdoors. Actually, I have a couple of pairs for each in different colors since I'm such a fashion maven. Like the old Birkenstocks, the soles of these things conform to your feet exactly, making them super comfortable, but they don't have the ugly tops like Birkenstocks have. A steal at $25 a pair. 

Nixon and the Carrot and Stick Technique

Added on by C. Maoxian.

From an interview with Bruce Oudes in 1989 [emphasis mine]:

"Lou Harris, of course, is a pollster and he was putting out some polls in '70 and '71, I believe it was, that were very -- that Nixon thought were rather unfair, didn't cast Nixon in as fair a light as possible. So what happened was a campaign to put a bit of political arm on Mr. Harris. He was stroked on the one hand. The trip to Moscow, invitation to the White House, that kind of thing. But by the same token, it is very clear in these memos and materials that he was also threatened by the loss of the contracts that he held with some government agencies. And it is certainly for Mr. Harris himself to say how much he was or was not influenced by all this pressure. But you see from the documents themselves the fact that there was considerable pressure. And that he certainly in his responses to the White House seemed to change his attitude quite substantially before the '72 campaign."

Suckers Give Succor to the Soviet Union

Added on by C. Maoxian.

Judy Shelton tells a story about her trip to Russia in 1987:

"Things were worse than I expected [in Russia]. My study was based on numbers and looking at government figures and statistics. When you see economic problems on paper, it doesn't hit you as hard as when you go out and see decrepit buildings and lousy roads. Most telling was we had wonderful guides both in Moscow and Leningrad, and the young lady who took care of us in Moscow, she accompanied us to dinner and at the end of the meal sitting on the table was a little stand with some bad peaches. I mean, visibly rotting-with-holes-on-them peaches. 

And we had had a sumptuous meal and our guide wasn't interested in having any, but she looked around at the end of the meal and she whispered, 'Are you going to eat that fruit?' And we said, 'No, no we're not.' She said, 'Would you mind if I had some?' 'Of course, help yourself.' And she looked around and she opened her big bag and she dumped it into her bag and the next morning told us her son thanked us, her mother thanked us, her father thanked us, and it was the first fruit they'd had that year."

Zbigniew Brzezinski on His Best Students

Added on by C. Maoxian.

From his appearance on Booknotes in 1989:

"When I taught earlier at Harvard and Columbia, more often than not, my best students were Jewish kids, Jewish Americans, most often. Today some of my best students are Oriental Americans. That's quite an interesting change. Korean Americans, Japanese Americans, Chinese Americans. And that, I think, probably foreshadows some interesting cultural changes in American society."

Tweets for March 31, 2016

Added on by C. Maoxian.

Tweets for March 29, 2016

Added on by C. Maoxian.

Maximizing Screen Real Estate in LiveCharts

Added on by C. Maoxian.

I've been using LiveCharts on and off for over a decade now ... they no longer offer the product to new subscribers, but keep old guys like me grandfathered in. It's a web-based Java applet, I guess, and you can right-click to remove the headers on charts and watchlists, which is very nice. But I never realized until the other day that the Livechart banner, which holds the clock, can also be minimized. You learn something new every day, etc. It's a beautifully-done interface. 

Top banner toolbar not hidden ... hover over the middle of it, the dark gray bit with the up arrow appears ... click it. 

Voila, it's hidden, more screen real estate, though I miss the clock. 

Tweets for March 28, 2016

Added on by C. Maoxian.