Friday, April 6, 2018

The Political Page, T+38 -- April 6, 2018

The best part of my day, politically, is the daily "periscope / podcast" by Scott Adams. I'm not sure if he goes live at the exact same time every day, but he apparently begins his "periscope" about 10:00 a.m. Central Time, reporting out of California, 8:00 a.m. their time.

The "periscope" shows up later on Twitter.

The live "periscope" shows real-time comments from those listening to Scott Adams. He's really quite remarkable. To some extent, one might think of Scott Adams as "Rush Lite." Rush does not make predictions, for the most part, but he is perhaps the best political analyst at the presidential level. Rush seldom goes farther down than presidential politics, and he generally sticks to politics.

Scott Adams, on the other hand, is interested in "human persuasion" and likes to test his theories by making predictions. He covers the trending topics of the day, not necessarily "pure politics" but in this environment, "everything is politics."

If I had to choose one or the other for my daily dose of "political commentary," right now it would be Scott Adams.

It's a little bit hard to find Scott Adams when he goes live every weekday morning (I don't know if he does a commentary on the weekends). I go to twitter; search "Scott Adams" on twitter; select his home page (not "Dilbert"); and, then wait for the "periscope" to pop up. It's easy to miss. Then I click on the "periscope camcast" which takes me to the live "periscope" which has real-time comments streaming at the sidebar at the right.

And, as noted, if you miss it, it will be shown on twitter a few minutes later where it stays "forever" for playback.

I've also caught a Scott Adams "periscope" later in the day; whether that's a regular feature or not, I don't yet know.

Today: I'll be watching the Masters. Perhaps my least favorite golfer on the PGA circuit is Sergio Garcia. I was lucky enough to catch this live. It was incredible to watch this as it was happening. Sergio sets a record:



The amazing thing: Sergio might have been leading after the 1st round had it not been for the 15th hole.

Another PGA Masters Augusta note: midway through the second day of the four-day tournament, only two players have failed to log a birdie on any 5-par hole: one is an amateur player; the other is .... drum roll .... Tiger Woods. 

Let's end on a positive note:

What Is Love, Haddaway

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The China Page

Deng Xiaoping And The Transformation of China
Ezra  Vogel
c. 2011 
951.05 VOG 

The British lease on Hong Kong would expire in 1997. Deng Xiaoping to British governor of Hong Kong, 1979: "If you think governing Hong Kong is hard, you ought to try governing China."

1979: China was in a disastrous state
  • 30 million people died during the previous decade, the Great Leap Forward
  • average per capita income of Chinese peasants, who made up 80 percent of the population, was $40 (US)
  • the amount of grain produced per person had fallen below what it had been in 1957
Deng Xiaoping
  • b. 1904
  • comes to power as "preeminent leader of China": 1978
  • steps aside: 1992
Chapter 1: From Revolutionary to Builder to Reformer, 1904 - 1969
Chapter 2: Banishment and Return, 1969 - 1974
Chapter 3: Bringing Order under Mao, 1974 - 1975
Chapter 4: Looking Forward Under Mao, 1975
Chapter 5: Sidelined as the Mao Era Ends, 1976
Chapter 6: Return under Hua, 1977 - 1978
Chapter 7: Three Turning Points, 1978
Chapter 8: Setting the Limits of Freedom, 1978 - 1979
Chapter 9: The Soviet-Vietnamese Threat, 1978 - 1979
Chapter 10: Opening to Japan, 1978
Chapter 11: Opening to the United States, 1978 - 1979
Chapter 12: Launching the Deng Administration, 1979- 1980
Chapter 13: Deng's Art of Governing
Chapter 14: Experiments in Guangdong and Fujian, 1979 - 1984
Chapter 15: Economic Readjustment and Rural Reform, 1978 - 1982
Chapter 16: Accelerating Economic Growth and Opening, 1982 - 1989
Chapter 17: One Country, Two Systems: Taiwan, hong Kong, and Tibet
Chapter 18: The Military: Preparing for Modernization
Chapter 19: The Ebb and Flow of Politics
Chapter 20: Beijing Spring, April 15 - May 17, 1989
Chapter 21: The Tiananmen Tragedy, May 17 - June 4, 1989
Chapter 22: Standing Firm, 1989 - 1992
Chapter 23: Deng's Finale: The Southern Journey, 1992
Chapter 24: China Transformed

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