Well, Johnny, if people can't put up with each other in this cyberspace email environment, where we have pause to think before we type, we would really have a difficult time putting up with each other in the same room!
Do I like Skoal? No, it tastes horrible. (shudder) But I have used it a bit, lately, to assist in staying alert when I have to work at night. Sometimes just the thought of having it available, to use if I want to, is enough to drive away the drowsiness.
So, there is some correlation between what happens when people eat chocolate and what happens when they use hemp? If I find out more about that, I'll tell my wife, who is one of the millions who like chocolate.
The other point you discussed, you said, " you like, it seems to me, to consult authority to access truth, or consensus. the dictionary, the bible ..." Yes, of course. You do too, I'd bet. Include also, computer hardware & software manuals, manuals for operating other machines and appliances, maps, encyclopedias, etc. Storehouses of knowledge for many things. They save the work of having to do everything from scratch.
For example, if I wanted to program a computer, I sure wouldn't want to start from scratch. Much more expedient to refer to programming manuals, documentation on the microprocessor codes, etc. Then, if I wanted to write a program, that base of knowledge that I can refer to would serve as a starting point for writing the program. If the program was commercially desirable by others, I could write a manual for it which others could refer to, instead of doing everything by trial and error.
The Bible is a good starting point for wisdom and truth. An excellent compass.
You are a fiction writer? Magazines, books or what? My wife has dabbled in writing a few articles and short stories for magazines, but they didn't pay enough to keep her interested in pursuing it. The only thing I've written and gotten paid for was an ancecdote submitted to Arizona Highways magazine.
Back to the market vs casino comparison. Who is most analogous to "the house?" One writer thought it was the specialists on the floor of the exchanges. That was an old book, before NASDAQ. Would have to include the market makers as part of the house if he wrote it now.
Someone else compared the brokerage industry to the house. If we are the house, though, then who are the players? (In the casinos, it is generally the players who lose, so the general public seems to fit the player category ok in that respect). The casinos wouldn't stay around if the house was the loser.
The most entertaining book I ever read about the stock market was, "How I Made $2,000,000 Dollars in the Stock Market," by Nicolas Darvas. He really did, too, even though he was a nightclub dancer by profession. After he wrote the book, it was very popular but Barron's would not advertise it for him, because he didn't say kind things about the brokerage industry and their recommendations of which stocks to gamble on.
John |
