Our World
History’s Winners and Losers
The difference between history’s winners and losers obviously depends on the criteria we adopt to discriminate between success and failure at the level of nation, culture, and civilization. For the purposes of this article, I will leave the display of military splendor and the creation of great art out of the equation. Neither military parades in a public square nor architectural wonders constitute a boon for ordinary people, even if they produce a feeling of national pride. Rather, I define success as a function of three complementary factors: the ability to survive intact for extended periods; the achievement of approximate prosperity in a largely impoverished world; and the fostering of a relatively free, confident, and vigorous citizenry. (Jeremy Bentham’s utilitarian calculus developed in his A Fragment on Government, based on “the greatest happiness of the greatest number,” plainly does not consort with these observations, since happiness is both an ambiguous concept and a non-measurable “quantity.”)
Dishwasher Drama Update
Well I uninstalled the dishwasher (Yes I remembered to turn the water connection off).
I cleaned out the trap which was not at all the horror I thought it might be.
Intake and drain lines are both fine with no kinks or blockages.
A bit of water remained within the unit which conveniently spilled out when I flipped it on its side to undo the intake hose.
But it just won’t go, lights are on but nothing happens beyond a low noise like a semi-relieved constipated cat.
Thank you all for your help.
Back to shopping.
My Dishwasher Died …
My not so old Bosch has given up the ghost it seems, the pump is likely shot an E-19 error code can’t be cleared on reset.
It’s been acting up for a couple of weeks first with the E-27 error code which can be bypassed on reset.
Any suggestions on a replacement? Budget friendly of course.
I have been looking at this Whirlpool model 800 bucks and good reviews.
Yes, headlights have become blindingly bright in Canada. Here’s what the experts are saying
Vancouver city councillor Sean Orr introduced a motion to council recently that he admits is “a little personal.”
“My mom absolutely hates these (head)lights,” he said in council chambers late January, “and from what I’ve been hearing, a lot of people do as well.”
History …
A fascinating interview with BERTRAND RUSSELL from 1952 that has him talking about his Grandfather meeting Napoleon, and about life in Europe in the 1800’s. pic.twitter.com/eoUNTnYsLs
— Michael Warburton (@TheMonologist) April 28, 2025
h/t Mauser
As the world inches back to a pre-WW2 order, the ‘middle powers’ face a grave new challenge
I had been asked to give a keynote speech at a conference at Columbia University’s Journalism School. It was January 2002. Two planes had been flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center months earlier and you could still feel how wounded the city felt. You could read it in the faces of New Yorkers you spoke to.
In my speech I made a few opening remarks about what the United States had meant to me. “I was born 15 years after the Second World War,” I said, “in a world America made. The peace and security and increasing prosperity of the Western Europe that I was born into was in large part an American achievement.”
American military might had won the war in the West, I continued. It had stopped the further westward expansion of Soviet power.
The elite bubble
Gaslight much? “Majority of Europeans Reject Sending Troops and Arms to Ukraine” https://t.co/PAXcDVhNjp
— Blazingcatfur (@fancypants_s) January 26, 2026