Updates on various issues / Follow-up: Absence from blogging and moving to the console

A few, possibly last-on-this-blog, updates:

1. Last time around, I wrote:
   

   I was working on a few texts at the time of the screen malfunction, and might go on to publish these or abbreviated versions of them on W-rdpr-ss. Otherwise, I will likely move on to publish on my website proper and abandon this W-rdpr-ss shit—especially, as the admin area of W-rdpr-ss is one of those hardly-even-usable-in-Firefox websites. When this will be, I cannot tell. While I have found all the old passwords, repositories, and whatnot that I need by now, I still need the time and notably time to implement something of a more blog-like character than the current functionality of the website. (I might or might not post a notification of new content on my W-rdpr-ss blog, but would otherwise, long overdue, leave W-rdpr-ss behind.)

   This post notwithstanding,* I did indeed “abandon this W-rdpr-ss shit”. Work on my website is well underway, but will take a long time. This partially because I have a great many other things to do at the moment; partially because the first step of integrating previously unpublished changes** to the website takes longer than I imagined. This, in turn, partially because they were more extensive than I remembered; partially because going through a page again brings me to make new changes, notably to cover experiences, changes of opinion, whatnot, that have taken place in the interim. (Most original versions are from 2009 or 2010, while we now have 2023 and a lot of water under the bridge.)

   *The following two items arose from very recent impulses to complete two recurring themes on this blog; and my uncharacteristic silence on political issues in the interim, cf. the final item, deserves at least a comment. Otherwise, I would likely not have bothered with even this update.

   **These arose during a time when a move to a new apartment had left me without private Internet. Then work and extensive travel for work left me with too little free time to address the issue, even once I had Internet again. Once I had the time, years later, repeated computer changes ensured that important data, including the version-control repositories and my login data where only available on backups, and I only got around to finding everything that I needed earlier in 2023.

   Apart from extensions of older texts, the only new content to date (!) is a category on politics. To boot, at the moment, it serves largely as a place holder for what I want to write later. I hope to bring in more new contents in the somewhat nearby future, but will likely not give any notifications on W-rdpr-ss.

   Whether I, as stated in the quote, will implement “something of a more blog-like character” remains to be seen: having re-exposed myself to my old setup and format of writing, I find it more pleasant than the blogging format, and we will have to see how I prioritize the two approaches in the future.

2. Last Sunday, Djokovic won the U.S. Open, for his third major of the year, complemented by a final at Wimbledon. He is back solidly at number one, after having traded places with Alcaraz repeatedly over the year due to artificial handicaps (discussed repeatedly in the past). I see my earlier posts about the true number one confirmed. Ditto the ones about Djokovic as the GOAT. With his now 24th major victory, even the naive “Majors determine the GOAT!” crowd has run out of excuses.

   However, due to Djokovic’s advancing age, I make no claims about how his career will continue. His 2023 is another exclamation mark, but age can hit fast once it does hit (ditto e.g. injuries and lack of motivation), Alcaraz is a very legitimate challenger, several other youngsters show potential, and I would not be surprised to see Djokovic lose his first place on the ATP ranking during 2024—and this time both legitimately and permanently. Then again, I would not be surprised to see him remain on top either.

   (There is still a good slice of 2023 left, but it would take an unlikely confluence of negative events to make him lose his first place on the ranking before the year is up—and it would not be legitimate if he did, as he still carries a severe handicap from the “Sunshine Double” through Biden’s incompetent and outdated COVID handling.)

3. Inflation continues, but seems to be less drastic than in the past—and some products have even grown a little cheaper. For instance, milk is down from 1.05 Euro to 0.95 Euro (per liter) for the brand that I usually buy. This is still far more than it was prior to the politician-created inflation-era, but even a small step in the right direction is better than yet another in the wrong direction.

   However, there has been a recent recurrence of the chewing-gum deficit—and for more brands than last time. This made me do a few Internet searches and I found several disturbing texts (in German, I did not keep references) that could partially explain previous issues:

   Apparently, producers of this-and-that had, in some cases, asked for larger price increases than the major store chains were willing to pass on to the consumers, e.g. for fear of seeing their own reputations damaged. Instead, they elected to not provide these products to the consumers at all, in the hopes that the producers would cave.

   While I can sympathise with the general reputation idea to some degree, this is highly unfortunate on at least two counts: Firstly, it further limits market forces, which leads to an even worse-functioning economy and a greater risk that problems with supply will continue. Secondly, it brings us back to exactly the type of Soviet-style situation that I have complained about in the past—the price on the shelf might be pleasant, but the shelf is empty. As noted repeatedly, it is better to (have the option to) pay more and actually get the product than to look at the empty shelf with that pleasant price.

   Moreover, my impression of the stores is damaged more when they fail to provide products over non-trivial amounts of time than when they raise prices. If it is the same with other customers, this approach will backfire. This the more so if the price increase had been accompanied with appropriate information, e.g. a sign to the effect that “We apologize for the price increase, but our suppliers have raised their prices and we had the choice between (a) following suit, (b) losing money, and (c) not providing the product.”. (In contrast, one of the articles gave a quote that pointed to a distasteful, dishonest, and/or incompetence showing “Look how hard we noble stores fight for you, the poor consumer!” attitude or, maybe, attempt to “spin” the situation.)

   From another angle, similar methods/attitudes have often been shown by unions in the past—and have been very harmful. It would be a shame if such union-style thinking spread to other actors and/or other fields.

4. I have not followed the news very closely over the last few months. This, in part, because of a change in priorities to reading books; in part, because of being fed up with the frustrating mixture of bad news, Leftist lies, and Leftist abuse of various kinds. (Cf. countless earlier posts on this blog.)

   However, it seems clear that the Leftist abuse continues or has grown even stronger. Note, especially, the abuse of the U.S. justice system by the Left to go after members of the non-Left, including Trump, in (often) obvious bad faith and for reasons relating to politics—not true misdeeds worthy of prosecution. This while similar or worse actions by Leftists remain unprosecuted. These are methods that would have been expected in Soviet Russia and Nazi-Germany—not in the alleged land of the free.