Late Summer Saturday Open Thread September 8 [KT]

Good morning! Thanks to Dr_No for the graphic above. Especially fitting with the recent kerfuffle over a giant corporation promoting a guy who promotes socialists. Below, a random assortment of topics for the week after Labor Day.

What will you wear now?

Used to be that the upper crust changed their wardrobes after Labor Day. Hope no socialists derailed your Labor Day Weekend. We have been hearing about the jobs of certain Asian factory workers whose working conditions are not great this week. Some of their jobs may be in jeopardy. Nike has lost another customer at Maggie's Farm:

I have been using Nike crossfit sneakers (Metcons) for my workouts. I have 2 pairs, so one is always dry. No heel, minimal cushioning, so perfect for all mixed workouts. Why would they want to engage me in political bullshit?

Commenter at Ace: "NIKE is going where the bucks are - single parent black teenage males. Who else buys $300 sneakers?"

So, what will you wear instead?

Assistant Village Idiot:

You can't wear football, baseball, or soccer cleats for street wear. There are some other uniform pieces you can sorta wear in public. Brim hats, jerseys, wristbands, socks - yet none of those work quite as well as sneakers. Branding works better for basketball, which may be why the game is spreading faster at the moment. The branding and the sport reinforce each other.

Odd how major changes of culture and huge amounts of money can turn on such small things.

Do you wear any baseball gear around the house? Not white after Labor Day, I hope.

Books

As a warm-up for tomorrow's Book Thread, a review and an interview I ran across. Got anything interesting on your reading list?

This is a new-to-me blog: I added some extra spacing to the quote below:

finally got around to reading The Road to Serfdom. Yes, it is worthwhile reading.

He undertakes to show how any attempt to redesign a society along centrally planned lines, as every version of socialism (National Socialist or Fascist or International Socialist or Democratic Socialist) tries to do, will, by the logic of planning and the limits of the human mind, tend inevitably to try to control not "merely economic things" but by extension every aspect of life . . . control information, and revise the meaning of words.

And so it has proved. For a simple example, those enamored of centralized re-education have spent the effort to try to redefine words like "racism" and "free speech" to try to eliminate contrary positions without debate.

Hayek was a smart guy.

Feeling contemplative? George Gilder discusses his book Life after Google. His earlier books are said to have explained some things before they happened. Anybody read one of them?

Back to School

Hypnotic math gifs for the kids, for when the math teacher starts holding forth on 'imperialism' and 'cultural intolerance'. And Democratic Party propaganda. From the midterm:

The emergence of the Tea Party played a central role in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, . . The victor was Barak Obama who, like Bill Clinton, served as U.S. president for 8 years. The two men guided always by the strength of character and force of intellect of First Lady Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton."

Finally! A math class with no need for math!

History

George Washington's Dinner Table in Manhattan:

FYI: "Macaroni" was slang for posh folk back in the day (which is exactly why Yankee Doodle feels dandy when he sticks a feather in his cap). "If you were macaroni," says our guide, "you had swag." And George Washington, being the most macaroni of them all, chose Fraunces' Long Hall to bid farewell to his troops after the war was won.

Lots of interesting details and photos.

Got anything interesting planned this weekend? Thinking of taking up soft shoe?

posted by Open Blogger at 10:13 AM

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